The Late John Collins When we heard in the Club of the death of our Honourary Life President Mr John Collins, it came as a great shock and a veil of sadness enveloped the Club. Coming as it did on the day that one of our youngest members 9-year old Darren Dunphy was laid to rest, it now seemed very poignant that one of our oldest members should now pass to his eternal reward as well. John was definitely one of life's gentlemen and was also one of those ever present people that all clubs seem to have around. He was the face of Roanmore at many meetings in City Hall, Eastern an County Board meetings, resident meetings, you name it and John was involved. He along with the late Sonny Murphy was one of the founding members of The Roanmore H&F Club back in 1970. He always made the point that we should be nurturing the young people of the local areas and his commitment in trying to organise and get the new club going in 1970 was all too evident to those around him. John had retired from the Waterford City Fire Brigade around the time of the Club being formed and it was an ideal opportunity for him to get involved wholeheartedly in the new club, which he did. In the early years he was very proud to see the Club winning so many Juvenile Titles but his greatest ambition was to see his beloved Roanmore win a Senior Hurling County Title. When we won back-to-back titles in 1989 to 1990. John was over the moon. He joined in the celebrations "big time" and his after match analysis of some of our games was a great topic of conversation for days to come. John as we all know didn't hold back much and when he thought you played badly he let you know. Some of our senior players of those teams will testify to the fact that they thought John was at a different game altogether. That summed up John. Another proud time for John was when he collected at a Gala evening in Cork a trophy awarded to Roanmore in the Centenary A.I.B. Club of The Year Awards in 1984. Things like this meant a lot to John. And we were always proud to have him as an ambassador for the club. For many years he was ever present. At our field in Cleaboy. His presence was always welcome and the chat and banter from him was great for everyone to hear. He was a lover of a lot of sports and a little known fact was his love of cricket. He of course loved the "odd" bet on the horses as well and again many an hour passed in the field talking about the nag of a horse that had let him down for a "cross treble". In fact this is also what summed up John Collins and his humour, dry with and down to earth straight talking style and what endeared him to many. He was also a great fund raiser for the club and many an hour was spent by him knocking on business people doors asking for money. He was our first line of attack in fund raising in the years he was involved with our various committees. His great commitment to Roanmore was seen only a few short weeks before he died by firstly donating €1000 to our Development Fund and secondly as our Life President by turning the first sod on our new development at Gracedieu on June 1st last. To the Club he is a great loss, a loss compounded by the death of his beloved wife Bridget a few short months ago. A great family man and to his extended family and especially to his sons Pat, John and Jim and his daughters Mary, Ann and Janette our sincerest condolences to you. If anyone is in heaven John is and no doubt he will still be giving out about players for every more to anyone that will listen. His remains were removed from Waterford Regional Hospital to the Holy Family Church where a guard of honour was provided by the club and a huge gathering were there to say farewell. His remains were removed from the Church flanked by a guard of honour from the Waterford City Fire Brigade for burial in St. Otterans Cemetery, Ballinanaeshagh, where both the City Fire Brigade and members of the Roanmore H&F. Club provided the guard of honour right up to the graveside. The Club would also like to acknowledge the fact that both Fr. Farrell who travelled from Tallow and Fr Ryan who came down from Killanule, Co. Tipperary and took part in the funeral mass were present as both were great friends of Johns for years when they were involved with the club. Lots of old faces were present at the burial and it showed the great esteem John was held in. Michael Wadding of Roanmore and also a neighbour of his gave a lovely graveside oration about John and his recollections brought many a smile to the multitude of sad faces that were attending the funeral. John Collins is gone but most certainly will never be forgotten. Ar dheis de go raibh a anaim. Courtesy of the Waterford News & Star 26th August 2005 Tweet

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