It is with deep regret that we record the passing of Edward Walsh, which sad event occurred at University Hospital Waterford on Friday, 21st June, 2024.
Edward, of Killure Bridge Nursing Home, Killure, Waterford, formerly of Church Road, Tramore, and late of the Munster Express, was born on July 4th, 1946 – Edward would have turned 78 this week.
Edward’s funeral cortège walked from Lodge’s Corner on Tuesday morning, 25th June, en route to the Holy Cross Church, Tramore, for Mass. Edward’s remains were buried after Funeral Mass at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Ballygunner, Waterford. Many of Edward’s former colleagues from The Munster Express attended to pay their respects including Cllr. David Daniels, son of the late Cllr. Davy Daniels who previously worked at The Munster Express; and current members of staff at the newspaper.
Edward grew up on Priest Road, Tramore and later, on Church Road, Tramore. He was the eldest of five children to Joseph and Josephine Walsh of the Munster Express.
Edward attended primary school in Waterpark and secondary school at Clongowes Wood College, Clane, Co. Kildare. While at Clongowes he was a popular sportsman and he competed in the Leinster Schools swimming championships with distinction. His swimming team won the Belvedere Perpetual trophy three years in a row. He also competed on the Junior and Senior Cup rugby teams for the school, playing mostly in the scrum.
In Tramore during the summer months, when he was home from boarding school, he enjoyed swimming and engaged in the various Irish Water Safety courses. He became a Life Saver First Class and also achieved the Advanced Swimmer certificate of the Irish Water Safety Association.
Following a tragic drowning of three young men in a canoeing accident in Tramore bay in 1962 the Tramore Sea Rescue Association was formed. This Association then bought a large inflatable rescue craft by public subscription and Ed became part of the crew along with his friends David Kenny and Ralph Counihan. They trained and went on regular exercises in the bay, performing a patrol service along Tramore beach on busy days.
Edward went to UCD after Clongowes and studied Arts in the old Earlsfort Terrace building, staying in the nearby Hatch Hall. He enjoyed politics and history, engaged with debates and rowed for UCD. Some of his contemporaries and former school friends included the late Taoiseach John Bruton, the late Judge John O’Hagan and the late Fine Gael TD Alexis Fitzgerald. They would frequently ask us about him later in life.
Initially, after UCD he went back to the Munster Express where he learned to work a Linotype Composer typesetting machine. He also wrote articles and took photos, delivered newspapers and did the many chores of a provincial newspaper business.
He had a great spirit of adventure and went to work in San Francisco, USA, in the late ’60s and subsequently Melbourne, Australia. He worked in various newspapers on a linotype machine along with editing and writing for the publications. He also did a stint in the Melbourne Stock Exchange. His letters home were very interesting.
He eventually returned home, but he went the long way round by sea on the SS Canberra. A voyage from Perth to Cape Town, South Africa and on to Southampton, England, which took three months.
Edward was an animal lover. As a child he had a tortoise and he also had a couple of dogs. One of which was Oscar, a boxer and Rufus a German shepherd. He and the late Ralph Counihan shared an interest in photography and had a photographic darkroom in the house. Edward also had a love for languages studying French in Clongowes and he was awarded the 1st prize for Latin in sixth year. He travelled to France a couple of times on French language exchanges as a teenager.
Edward was a popular, unassuming man in Tramore. He enjoyed conversation and had a keen interest in current affairs. He enjoyed classical music and had an old vinyl collection. Military affairs were also an interest from his time in Clongowes where he was part of the school FCA troop. In Waterford he did short spells in the FCA and the Slua Muiri.
In later years he retired to the Holy Ghost residential home, and subsequently he transferred to Killure Bridge Nursing Home for health reasons.
His final days were rather sudden in terms of health deterioration. He contracted pneumonia, leading to organ failure and died at University Hospital Waterford on Friday last, June 21st.
The family would like to thank the staff of Killure Bridge Nursing Home and the staff of University Hospital Waterford for their care and concern for Edward.
Edward will be missed by his sister Miriam (Dublin), brothers Nicholas (Dunmore East) and Kieran (Tramore), sisters-in-law Maria and Roswitha, brother-in-law Peter (London), nieces, nephews, extended family, relatives, his former colleagues at the Munster Express and his friends in Tramore and elsewhere.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
