Mr Rowan Neilans

MR Rowan Isaac Joachim Neilans, formerly of Scotch Street, Downpatrick, died in England recently at the age of 72.

The youngest son of Bobby and Eileen Neilans, he was born May 1945 passed away peacefully on February 27.

Mr Neilans joined the Army as a junior leader in 1960.

He saw service in Aden and later with the United Nations in Cyprus.

He married his wife, Josephine, in 1974 and worked as a HGV driver when he left the Army, settling in the London area and later in Luton.

During his younger years he enjoyed sailing at Quoile Yacht Club and he remembered vividly the day when the Quoile River was closed from Strangford Lough by the construction of a tidal barrier in the late 1950s. 

He enjoyed people and socialising. Even when, latterly, he was given a terminal diagnosis, he brightened up many an outpatient department.

Predeceased by his wife in 2016, Mr Neilans will be sorely missed by his older brother, Bobby, and sister Anne.