Mr Pat Kernan (Pádraig Mac Thiarnáin)

MR Pat Kernan died peacefully in the Downe Hospital on July 8 July after a long illness.

He was born in 1944 in Crossmaglen and had four siblings — Olivia, Annette, Joe and Raymond. He was very proud of all his siblings but especially proud of Armagh player and All-Ireland winning manager Joe Kernan. His family were touched when a minute’s silence was held before the county’s game with Galway last month.

He married Sheelagh in 1968 and they had five children — Siobhán, Colm, Cormac, Art and Rónán. He always said that his children and grandchildren were his greatest achievement. It was very fitting that his family were all with him when he died.

Pat developed his love of Irish whilst at school and went on to study Celtic language and literature at Queen’s University.

He had a long association with St Patrick’s College, Knock. As vice-principal from 1977 he was in charge of discipline and treated pupils fairly and equally, as well as providing a calming presence through the chaos of the early Troubles.

Pat and Sheelagh had moved to Downpatrick in 1974 to escape the Troubles. They brought up their five children speaking Irish and many others in the town would say they first attended beginner’s classes because they
had heard the language spoken on the streets.

Pat had a very significant impact on Downpatrick and the surrounding district as he  co-founded the Lecale Gaelic Society, founded Downpatrick’s Irish language playgroup, Naíscoil Dhún Pádraig, 20 years ago and Downpatrick’s Irish language primary school, which later became a unit of Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School.

Many hundreds of children in the Downpatrick area and surrounding district have been educated at playgroup and primary school level due to his hard work over the years promoting the Irish language. He was delighted when St Malachy’s High School in Castlewellan opened an Irish medium unit a few years ago for local children to do their secondary level education through Irish.

He organised a number of cultural festivals (Gaeltionol) in Downpatrick over the years.

He thoroughly enjoyed teaching adults Irish at night class and continued to do this until a few weeks before he died. It was a job he loved and he threw himself into it wholeheartedly.

Interviewed by the school magazine on his retirement after 34 years, Pádraig Mac Thiarnáin said he would like to be remembered as someone who was fair, did his job and didn’t take himself too seriously.

Asked for any advice for pupils as he moved on, he said: “The secret to life is love. It sounds corny but when you have your health, the most important thing in life is to love and to be loved.

“A strong faith helps. After that everything falls into place.”

Faith, a love of family, a passion for Irish culture and an unquenchable thirst for life defined Pat Kernan (Pádraig Mac Thiarnáin).

The Irish teacher and activist man instilled a love of the native tongue in generations of young people and inspired some to go on to teach themselves.

A gentleman with time for everyone, his incredible drive to live each hour to the full — even during an eight-year battle with cancer — also leaves a
lasting impact on all who encountered him.

He will be lovingly remembered by his wife Sheelagh, Siobhán, Colm, Cormac, Art and Rónán , grandchildren Aisling, Sinéad, Niamh, Clodagh, Ruairí, Eimear, Eoin, Fionn, Cillian, Conor, Shane and Cara, and the wider family circle.