Mr Joseph Walsh

THE community in Killyleagh and his family and friends, both at home and abroad, were deeply saddened by the death of Mr Joe Walsh, of Wallace Hill Road.

Joe, the son of Margaret and the late Gerry Walsh, husband of Jo-Anna and dad of Jana and Judy, passed away peacefully at his home on Friday, August 11, just a day after he celebrated his 52nd birthday.

After completing his primary and secondary education, Joe spent his first years of work in   London while continuing his studies at the University of Greenwich where he completed his BA in Architecture. 

He returned home to work for McVeigh Brown Architects and then WDR & R T Taggart in Belfast, but continued to travel to University of Greenwich once a week to complete his RIBA Examination in Architecture, as well as a Building Engineering & Management course at University of Ulster.

Joe travelled to Australia with his family in 2010 to work for Bruce McClean Architects in Perth before being employed by AHG Automotive Holdings Group, the largest automotive distributor in Australia and New Zealand, where he held the position of National Architect which included traveling throughout Australia and New Zealand.

In 2014, Joe returned home to continue working in his private architecture practice in Killyleagh.

Joe was a member of the Architects Registration Council of United Kingdom and was an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Australian Institute of Architects.

In his younger days Joe played many sports for clubs in the Killyleagh area. He also loved skiing, cycling, badminton and sailing, as well as being a member of a boxing club in Australia.

Joe was very talented. He was the life and soul of all family parties and a fantastic entertainer who loved to sing and play the guitar. These talents matched his terrific sense of humour and along with many of his cousins he played numerous pranks on his siblings, family and friends.

He enjoyed nothing more than to arrange special nights in family homes where he entertained with Mr & Mrs and Blind Date competitions and numerous parties, with the nights ending with the guitar being brought out and everyone joining in the singing.

Requiem mass in St Mary’s Star of the Sea Church on Sunday, August 13, was followed by interment in the churchyard at Ballyculter Parish Church. The Very Rev Fr Sean Cahill officiated, assisted by the Very Fr Brendan Smyth and the Very Rev Henry Hull, Dean of Down.

Joe touched the lives of many people and his death leaves a large gap in his family, wider family circle and the local community.

In addition to his wife, children and mother, he is survived by his brothers, Gerard and Ignatius, sisters Anne, Claire, Cecelia, Veronica, Paula and Susan, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles and cousins and the wider family circle. He was predeceased by his father and by a sister, Kate.