’Model neighbour’ remembered

The hearse carrying the late John Gaughan weaves its way towards the graveyard in Aughleam. Pic: Peter Wilcock

‘Model neighbour’ and community man

The Aughleam community was in shock last week at the death of John Gaughan, but they supported each other and the bereaved family

Anton McNulty

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THE flow of traffic was constant as mourners struggled to find parking on the narrow roadway leading to the home of John Gaughan, overlooking the wild Atlantic. Heads were low as they trundled up the hill towards the house in disbelief, to pay their final respects to their neighbour and friend.

Nestled among the rolling hills overlooking the sand dunes and golden strand of Port Glais, the home of John Gaughan is a picture postcard location, looking down at the wild ocean crashing against the rocks. It was a view John Gaughan cherished all his life and neither emigration nor his adventures on the fishing trawlers along the Grandbanks of Newfoundland could keep him away.

The village of Aughleam, and the surrounding areas like Glosh on the tip of the Mullet Peninsula, is an isolated and windswept part of the county. For years emigration blighted the landscape but it is a place which will not let itself be left behind, in spite of the obvious dangers of this due to its peripheral location. It is proud of its heritage, and the Coláiste Samhraidh, which swells the population during the summer months, signifies that. After years of savage neglect, new houses are springing up across the landscape, bringing hope and a future for the area.

But for all the emigration and lack of investment, the one thing that never left is the community spirit, with this tight-knit body of people always pulling together in a time of need. It is a place where neighbours do not think twice about helping one another, no matter how big or small the task, a place where people have their neighbours’ best interests at heart.

Just after 12 noon on Sunday March 11, the heart of the community was rocked when word spread of the discovery of the body of 72-year-old John Gaughan on the laneway leading to his home at Glosh. It was a discovery that ‘floored the community’, yet also drew a display of rallying community spirit.

John Gaughan symbolised everything that was good about the community and everything good in a neighbour. Like the area he lived in, he was quiet and unassuming, a man who lived each day as it came. He may have been in his 73rd year, but his ageing years did not hold him back as he went about his farm work, which he loved and which he carried out with a diligence that put the younger generations to shame. He was a man who would never think twice about helping a neighbour, whether it was bringing them to town for their shopping or help with the farming. He was a model neighbour who always put others before him.

Now it is the turn of his neighbours to rally around his family in their time of need. Although he never had children of his own, his nieces and nephews were everything to him as he was to them. Devastated family members who came from all parts of the globe were inconsolable last Wednesday evening, and were comforted by neighbours who took control of the wake, as is customary in this part of the world.

The news of his death numbed the whole community. “We never thought we would see the day,” explained one neighbour. “Life can be so sad. The whole area is devastated, nobody can do anything. John was everyone’s friend and a great neighbour, always willing to help out. He was always very active and he kept his house in immaculate condition.

“The place has gone into shock. It is such a close, tight-knit community, it has been completely floored. We have had to cancel everything, even the St Patrick’s Day parade has been cancelled. Never in our wildest dreams did we think anything like this would visit us.”

In the village shop, the atmosphere was hushed as people tried to come to terms with the magnitude of what had happened. Rumours surrounding the circumstances of the death were rife, but still the reasons for this tragedy cannot be explained. News of the arrest of a young local person made it doubly difficult for people to talk about it. Some could not talk at all; it was all too close to home.

What happened last weekend is an alien experience for a place like Aughleam. The visit of the State pathologist and the Garda Technical Bureau – people more readily associated with the scenes of urban shootings – only brought the reality home. Their thoughts and prayers are not only with the family of John Gaughan, but also with the family of the young man arrested. The people here fear that if the rumours are true there could be another family in the parish suffering as well.

Women going about their day’s shopping were at pains to explain how much of a loss John will be to the community. They explained how he was central to the development of the Elly/Blacksod water scheme, which was established in the early eighties, and how he would leave his Christmas dinner to ensure that water would come across the hill and people would not be left dry.

The coffin is carried in to the graveyard by family members and friends. Pic: Peter Wilcock