SéAMUS MCCONVILLE:IN 1957 Séamus McConville, who has died aged 79, began what was meant to be a three-month stint with the Kerrymanin Tralee and stayed on for 31 years, including a 14-year period as editor of the newspaper from 1974 to 1988.
Having made his mark as a budding journalist on the Meath Chroniclein Navan, he went to work under Conor Cruise O'Brien in the Irish News Agency, a propagandist bureau set up in 1949 by the Clann na Poblachta government to disseminate positive stories about Ireland.
Ever the quintessential newsman, McConville was instrumental in transforming the Kerryman, adding newsy features to the traditional diet of court cases and county council meetings. His social conscience led him to campaign on issues such as housing, illustrating stories with pictures of people living in squalid conditions.
He covered all the major stories in the southwest, including the still unsolved 1959 Moss Moore murder which inspired John B Keane's play The Field.
Physically a big man, he had a presence and a quality of leadership about him without being authoritarian. Former colleagues remember him as a quiet but firm and fair-minded editor, a good listener and open to ideas. Kerrymancolumnist Con Houlihan described him as "a grand man with almost infinite patience".
Essentially a team player, he never raised his voice in the newsroom and was a mentor to many young reporters, several of whom went on to take up senior posts in the national media.
A driving force behind the Rose of Tralee festival in its early years, McConville suggested the marketing ploy of linking the song with the event to strengthen its international links.
Deeply religious, he made sure that when Bishop Eamon Casey, then bishop of Kerry, contacted the paper, his comments would be given ample coverage. As a teenager, he spent a brief time in a Franciscan seminary in Killarney and was subsequently involved with St Joseph’s Young Priests’ Society, a lay organisation which promotes vocations.
He was involved in the formation of Siamsa Tíre, the national folk theatre.
Strongly opposed to IRA activities in the North, he received a death threat from unnamed republicans in Kerry after rejecting a demand not to publish an anti-IRA column by Con Houlihan. The McConvilles were given Garda protection at the time.
Born in Navan, the family moved from place to place in the Border counties following the promotion postings of his Garda superintendent father, William, finally settling at Mohill in Co Leitrim where he spent his childhood.
Despite having leukaemia, the former editor continued until shortly before Christmas to write a regular column, "My Town", on the comings and goings of the people of Tralee. In a classic example of his belief that names make news, an evocative article in the Leitrim Guardianrecalled a visit to St Michael's National School in Mohill.
“It had been 53 years since I left the old school (Cashen’s garage now) and . . . I had expected to see the faces of McGowans, Reynolds, Cumiskeys, Faulknans, Colreavys, Caseys, Logans, Rowleys, McKeons float in front of me. I was not disappointed. Some of them may have belonged to a different generation. But they were there, nevertheless, challenging me to search for characteristics which may have been passed on from previous generations. It was nostalgic and wonderful and my only regret is that I could not have had my father with me too for the trip back in time.”
McConville is survived by his wife Dolores, son Seán, daughters Denise, Marissa and Fiona, sister Eileen and brother Kevin.
Séamus McConville: born September 10th, 1932; died January 15th, 2012