Beyond The Sea

by Jack Lynch

  Working in England was bearable but both Molly and I wanted to return home to Ireland so I could not believe it when I found out that The General Electric Company of America was opening a factory in Ireland and that they were hiring personnel. Molly and I decided I should apply. Duly elated, I wrote and enclosed my C.V and soon after was called for interview in Dundalk, Co. Louth. When the date for me to go arrived I hugged Molly and the children and with my suitcase packed I headed off via Aer Lingus for the most important interview I’d ever had, which would hopefully be my passport back home.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  On arrival in Dundalk, I was interviewed by the Director of Quality, who was American. With my background in electronics and particularly in semi conductors this man felt that this is where I would be best suited and he wanted people such as me to help in the establishment of a semi conductor factory. When he asked me if I would like to start soon I told him I had to give in notice to STC and would love to join the ‘ECCO,’ Company, which was a subsidiary of General Electric of America. This company was bringing in new technologies, to this country. They manufactured Diodes, and Transistors. The processes included all states of assembly, inspection and tests. I was employed as Quality Specialist, and had numerous Inspectors, and Process checkers, reporting to me. I grew to love the job, but being in Dundalk in 1969 had its own problems.

  When my notice with STC expired I came in advance to Dundalk in order to see how things were, and what the housing situation was like. I took up lodgings in a house, opposite the Garda station, and in fact a Sergeant and a Garda lodged in the same digs. There were a number of Mormons also lodging there but at no time did they try to discuss religion. The house was subdivided with rooms partitioned, so that the owners could let out as much space as possible. I can’t say I liked the place but lodgings were hard to find at the time. During my time there I developed severe bi-lateral septic throat, and had to stay in bed for a week. My bed was soaking in perspiration, and the landlady did not call in once to find out my state of health, or to change my bedclothes. All she wanted was my rent. The doctor gave me a double shot of penicillin so that I could go over to Molly and the children for Christmas. Molly was shocked when she saw me. I had lost a lot of weight, and looked gaunt. When I returned to Dundalk I was much stronger, and waited patiently for Molly and the children to join me.

  Despite my joy at the idea of coming back to Ireland to work, it was not easy on Molly, or the children, who stayed in Ealing, until we decided it was safe to sell, and for all to come over. Molly was having her hands full doing everything over in Ealing, and with no help from me. What a girl I married. When the chips were down she coped with all that could be thrown up. Eventually, we decided to sell, and fair dues to her Molly got on with the job, and sold the house. She took care of all the legal aspects and eventually, got tickets to come over to Ireland. My motorbike was left in the front garden and the paperwork for it as left in the house. I wonder what happened to it. It brought back memories of my brother Anthony when he had the accident coming to my wedding and he too left his motorbike in somebody’s front garden.

  I was over the moon when my family arrived at Dublin Airport and we hugged, laughed and generally went wild. It was great. However, our joy was put on hold for awhile. Since we did not have anywhere to live together, Molly moved in with my sister Sheila, and her family in St. Martin’s Park, in Rathmines, Dublin. Bennie, and Sheila were very good, and I shall be eternally grateful to them for the help and comfort they showed to my family. Molly was there for months. I used to go down at weekends, until we located a house in Dundalk. Molly liked the house, but it would take some time before we could move in. We therefore decided that Molly, and the children should move to Cobh, where Mammy and Daddy welcomed them with open arms.

  Eventually, we settled at ‘St. Monica’s’ in Long Avenue, Dundalk, also known as Avenue Road. This was a four bedroom detached house, completely walled in and bounded on one side by the ramparts, which is a stream The other walls were eight feet high and we were very secluded. There was grass all round the house, and this kept me busy with the lawnmower. We soon settled in, but found that we needed to replace all the rotting sash windows, and also found woodworm in the attic, that had to be treated. There was an Aga cooker in the kitchen, and this kept the place cosy and warm. The next thing was to get a TV, so we had an aerial erected, and bought a twenty-one inch Ferguson. I bought a white, second hand ‘Fiat eleven hundred,’ from a Dublin Garage. It was a bad buy. It had poor headlights and the handbrake used to freeze up in winter and could not be released for a long time. Later, when I was driving to Cobh, with the whole family, because Daddy was dying, the car broke down at the Coachman’s Inn, just outside Dublin Airport, where I had to get assistance from some of the customers to push start the car. Later, I got a speeding ticket going through Abbeyleix where I was allegedly doing thirty two mph in a thirty mile mph zone. The exhaust pipe burned out, and one of the lads at, ECCO later replaced it with a copper pipe. The aluminium engine was a washout, and I’m sure the clock had been turned back. I suppose going from Dundalk to Cobh did not help particularly in those days of bad roads.

  In Cobh, I went in to see daddy but to my dismay and sorrow he had died. Apparently he had a massive heart attack and went quickly. My sister Nora was with him and arranged to have him laid out in the back room behind the shop area. I was very dismayed and upset that I had been late again but once more I had the comfort of knowing that I carried his coffin to lay him to rest next to mammy. When I had looked at his corpse his face looked as if he had suffered quite a bit during his last few hours. The sciatica which he had complained about in his left arm was in fact the classic sign of heart problems but he was unaware of this. His last moments were traumatic for Nora as he struggled to get his breath during a massive heart attack. I wondered what now lay ahead as both my parents were dead, but I had my own family to look after and intended to do that to the best of my ability.

  When we arrived back in Dundalk I knew I had to get rid of the Fiat which was clapped out. Each day when we went out I kept an eye out for a good buy and one day while out with Molly and the children, we passed a garage and there was a grey Cortina for sale. I free-wheeled the Fiat in, and ignoring the exhaust noise, the car otherwise looked spotless and in great shape. I asked the garage owner how much he would give in a trade in. I had looked over the Cortina, and she looked fine, with not too many miles on it. We came to a deal, which I felt I had got the better of, and I came back with a cheque, took over the Cortina, and drove home, delighted with myself. On three occasions I had calls from the garage owner who had sold my Fiat on, and had it returned to him as ‘poor value and not roadworthy.’ He wanted me to compensate him’ but I told him he had made a deal’ and took the risk as I had. I heard no more’ and then one day I saw the Fiat trundling up the road, and an old man quite happily driving it, at about twenty-five m.p.h. He waved as he went by.

  It was here in Dundalk that Molly got the shock of her life, when she found she was pregnant again. She had to have it confirmed and went to her doctor named, a man named O’Reilly who hailed from Cork and who practised in Dundalk, but was only licensed to do deliveries in Newry, Co. Down. One evening he knocked on the door after the tests had been done. I opened the door. Molly stood alongside me, worrying, and before anybody could speak, Ann piped up,

  “Is mammy going to have a new baby?”

  We stood still as Dr. O’Reilly smiled, looked at Ann. and said,

  “Yes she is. Daddy goofed again.”

  After a while Molly got used to the idea, and when her time came we went to John of God Hospital in Newry, Co. Down and Susan was born there.

  She had dark hair, and kept sticking her tongue out. Molly said to me,

  “Is she alright; is there something wrong when she keeps sticking her tongue out?” I picked Susan up, kissed her, and again welcomed her into our ever increasing family. I eventually set Molly’s mind at rest, when I as
ked the Doctor to explain that there was nothing abnormal with Susan. Molly used to call her “My dark haired Susan.” We returned with a family of four children; one Corkonian, two Londoners, and one born in the North of Ireland. It sounds like we’re a bunch of itinerants! Susan was a pert little baby, and her hair grew blonder with time. It was lovely to see all the children playing around in the large garden, and they had many friends.

  Around this time the troubles started up in the North of Ireland. Molly was getting quite concerned, because Dundalk was a known area for IRA activity, and she feared that the troubles would spread down south. Since we were adjacent to the main Dublin road, her fears gradually grew.

  “What will we do if ‘THEY come down here?” She used to say half jokingly.

  To make matters worse, our house was next-door to ‘Failte House,’ a guesthouse, which was to inadvertently cause Molly more worry. Right smack in the middle of the troubles the owners, our friends, used to take precautions to lock up, and make sure that no subversives from any side could get into the house without their knowledge. The owner’s wife told Molly that one night a man, and woman came, and booked in, and the owner locked the doors as he usually did. They then retired, and the next morning the guests checked out. Later, on the TV news, a picture of a well-known IRA man on the run appeared on the screen. They looked dumbfounded at the TV, as it dawned on them that their overnight lodger was none other than this ‘Fugitive’. They realized then, that rather than locking out undesirables they had inadvertently locked one in. As I said, Molly was not too impressed.

  The time came for another move, and this time it was going to be Dublin, where we felt that the children would have better educational facilities, and a better way of life. We too, would benefit from a move. While in Dundalk, despite having very good friends, and workmates, and liking the town I was now around forty, and felt I had to make the move now. Molly and I decided after some searching, and visits around estate agents, that Malahide would be a perfect place to buy a house, and plant our feet. We looked and fell in love with plans for a small estate at Gaybrook Lawns, and took up an option to buy before the house was built. Again, it was Molly who found the location, while she was with another friend from Dundalk, who was also on the lookout for a house.

  We had to break the news to the children that we would be moving and leaving Dundalk. After we told them, Ann and Sean sulked and went out in the garden where they had the following Pow-Wow;

  Ann: “They don’t care about us, they only think of themselves.”

  Sean: “Yeah and what about all our friends, we won’t see them again.”

  Ann: “They’re selfish, and I want to stay here.”

  Sean: “I do too, and I don’t want to go to Dublin.”

  There was more muttering, but Molly and I could not quite make it out, as they moved away from the window where we were listening and trying to control our laughing. Eventually, they got the message that we were going, after we told them they could stay, and we would go alone.

  At work I went into my boss’s office to hand in my notice. Tom Cullen and I got on very well from day one, and I was sorry to be saying goodbye to him. The conversation went like this,

  “Tom, I want to hand in my notice, and will be leaving in a month.”I said.

  “What brought this on? Are you not happy here?” asked Tom.

  “I am Tom, but for future prospects, and for my family, I feel its right to go now.”

  “Is there nothing I can say to get you to change your mind, and stay?” he asked.

  I answered, “No, Tom my mind is made up, and I have already accepted a job elsewhere.”

  Tom got up from his desk, and held out his hand,

  “I’m sorry to see you leave Jack, but before you go is there anything you would like to say about me, and my style of management?”He asked me.

  “Tom I was very happy to work with you, you have been very fair, but I have one criticism and that is whenever you gave out a task. You did not follow up to find out if it had been completed.” I replied.

  Tom shook my hand he said, “Thanks Jack for being so forthright, I’ll remember that in future, and on behalf of ECCO I wish you all the best in your new job.” He then sat down.

  Within a few seconds he was on his feet again, put out his hand, shook mine again and said,

  “Welcome to Core Memories I‘m your new boss there.”

  He too, was on his way to my new Company, and was in fact the one who vetted, and selected me, for my job. I nearly fell over, and he laughed his head off. For nine months, Tom and I drove from Dundalk, to Dublin every working day, before we eventually moved into our new houses. It was tough going. Tom went to live in Sutton. Incidentally the lady who was with Molly searching for a new house was Tom’s wife. More friends kept arriving from ECCO, and it was becoming ‘home from home.’

  During my daily trips from ECCO to Dublin, I used to call into our estate, to monitor progress on the house, and to push for completion. The foreman was sick and tired of me, but I didn’t care, and in March, 1970, Molly and I took possession of the house. Molly was thrilled, and started organising the furnishings, and decorations. We spent lots of time selecting carpets, curtains etc. However, we were driven up the wall with the construction going on, and since we were the second family to move in there was a lot of work to be carried out by the builder. There was dust, and muck everywhere, and the children had a whale of a time.

  Gradually, families began to move in, and plenty of young children started to arrive. We had some great neighbours, and many houses changed hands over the years we still kept some contact with many of them.

  I continued to work for Core Memories, which was a labour intensive operation. It produced cores for memory systems, and also produced core memory stacks and systems for computers. These were the state of the art until micro chips entered production. The company was later taken over by Data Products, which saw out the end of core production, and produced Line Printers for the Banks and large companies, like Prime, Honeywell, Siemens, Olivetti and others. I gradually got promotion, and became Quality Control Manager and later Production Manager of some products. I was also Project Manager for the final successful completion of the semi automated production line for printers, paint shop and associated parts throughout the plant. The system was installed by a Japanese company. Later, I became unit Manager of one of the two manufacturing facilities. In this capacity I had a lot of responsibility, and took it upon myself to do a lot of weekend work. Looking back, I was a fool that I did not delegate more work. I was elected as the shop floor representative on the pension’s board, and appointed Secretary of this board.

  The children in the meantime had started school in Malahide. Ann went to the primary, ‘Red School’ at Yellow Walls road. She then went on to secondary at Scoil Iosa. Sean attended St. Sylvester’s primary school, and then to secondary at Christian Bros. at Colaiste Mhuire, Swords, Co. Dublin. Like Ann, Jane and Susan also attended both these primary, and secondary schools.

  Molly always made sure that the children were clean, and neat, going to school and she took more interest in their friends than I did, due to the long hours I put in at work. She was the one who got the school results, and complaints, if any, and I never got to hear about them, until the children were grown up, and could laugh and say, “Dad, you did not know half of what went on.” I now wonder if they will wonder what went on in my life when they read this! God bless them all there was nothing malicious in what they did, and I can honestly say I’m proud each one of them, and what they went on to achieve. Many people complemented Molly and me, saying what a wonderful family we have. Unfortunately, Molly is gone, having done all the hard work. Well done Kids! Another thing, could I have given out to the kids having looked back at my own youth and life? The proof of the pudding is in the eating; each of them is married, and owns their own home. Their homes are a credit to them and we have 6 wonderful grandchildren….

  Other parts of our live
s complimented the rearing of our children and Molly and I took all opportunities to do what we liked to do. One Thursday in Malahide, Molly and I decided to go to Denis Drum’s auction, and as I had to park the car Molly went on in front of me. When I got to the auction room the auction was in full swing, and I could not see Molly due to the packed hall. I waited for our ‘piece’ to come up, and we had decided to bid up to a certain amount, and then stop. All was going well as I bid, only to find I was reaching the critical bidding stage, which we had agreed on. Our top price was reached, and I decided that since Molly wanted the piece I would continue bidding to try and get it. I succeeded after going a few quid over the price we had agreed, and feeling very cocky, I met Molly after the auction. When I told her about my achievement she was not at happy, as she had been the only other person bidding, and we could have had the item for a lot less. Later we laughed.

  Molly, and I used to take the family to Cork regularly when they were young, and it used to amuse me watching Molly getting excited, as we got close to Glanmire - on the outskirts of Cork City - out came the comb and handkerchief to clean the children. This was a ritual. No way were her children going to look out of place and Molly was so proud of them.

  We had many holidays in England, California, Ibiza, Portugal, and in Italy. Besides our honeymoon in Germany, our first holiday was in Majorca. When we landed there the first thing Molly did was to look around her, and exclaimed, “What am I doing here? I should be at home with my children.” Molly always thought of others before herself. Anyway, she got to like the place, and we had some great times there. We also went to the Algarve in Portugal. She was not too happy there, because there was a lot of building going on, and it was quite dusty and noisy.