Mullingar mourns the late Leo Daly

A man described by 'Mullingar: Just for the Record' author Matt Nolan as "the essence of Mullingar" passed to his eternal reward on Saturday last, July 3.Author, broadcaster, playwright, photographer, poet and renowned local historian Leo Daly (90) died peacefully in the care of nurses and staff at St. Clair's Nursing Home, St. Francis' Private Hospital, Ballinderry, Mullingar on Saturday night.Husband of the late Brigid, Mullingar native Leo was considered one of the town's greatest ambassadors to arts and literature circles, building up a reputation throughout his long life as one of the county's most knowledgeable historians, a prolific writer and a Joycean scholar par excellence.Born in Mullingar on January 23, 1920 - just as the War of Independence got underway in Westmeath and the rest of the country - Leo was the son of William Daly, a local CIE engine driver, and Rebecca (née Forman).One of seven children (five brothers and one sister), as a child Leo lived at Fairgreen, Mullingar. He was educated at the Presentation Convent, Mullingar and later St. Mary's CBS Boy's National School, before acquiring his secondary education at Coláiste Mhuire's Hevey Institute.He joined the staff of St. Loman's Hospital, Mullingar, where he garnered a reputation as a caring and highly professional psychiatric nurse; he retired early from this career in 1966, to concentrate on other areas of his life.Leo studied drama and drama writing in London under the British Drama League, and also completed a course in photography at the Agfa School of Photojournalism in Edenbridge, Kent.This training stood greatly to Leo throughout his professional life. While working at St. Loman's, he also developed a trade as a professional photographer, and as a photojournalist, he made numerous contributions to American and Irish publications. He was a long-time and highly-regarded contributor to the Westmeath Examiner newspaper, and indeed, in 1982, edited this newspaper's centenary publication.A lover of drama from an early age, Leo was a founder of the Mullingar Little Theatre, and produced and acted in numerous plays. He featured in the "Midland Herald" and the "Roscommon Herald" as a drama critic, and wrote pantomime scripts for the St. Loman's Players.In the 1950s, he produced "The Bachelors' Times", a brochure reproduced annually in connection with the Mullingar Bachelors' Ball. Shortly before his retirement from St. Loman's, with the assistance of his daughter Rosaleen, Leo produced an adaptation of A.J. Stanley's three-act comedy "The Troubled Bachelors".A gifted creative writer, Leo was a Hennessy Award-winning short story writer. Two of his stories, "The Echo" and "The Awakening", were published in the Irish Press in 1969. These works earned him an invitation to the David Marcus School for Short Storywriters.A Joycean scholar of note, and the author of "James Joyce and the Mullingar Connection", Leo travelled to many international symposia on Joyce over the years, preparing papers and sharing thoughts and ideas with other experts on the works of James Joyce and his contemporaries.A well known broadcaster, Leo wrote extensively for radio and theatre audiences, and was a regular contributor to the arts and culture show, "Sunday Miscellany" on RTÉ Radio 1. Prolific and versatile in output, his name featured in countless newspapers and magazines even into his later years; one of the most unusual publications he wrote for was Cara, Aer Lingus' in-flight magazine.History was one of his greatest loves, and he will forever be remembered in Mullingar and Westmeath for his encyclopaedic knowledge of local history, particularly the minutiae of medieval and pre-medieval Mullingar. His 1999 work on the life of St. Colman of Lynn, for example, is a monumental local study of early Christian Ireland. Leo also played a major role in the digitisation of Mullingar's parish records.A keen promoter of the Irish language, Leo developed a great love for the Aran Islands, and often travelled there. His celebrated novel, "The Rock Garden" (1984), is set on Aran, and gives the reader a glimpse at social and cultural issues surrounding the islands.A former resident of 10 Mary Street, Mullingar, Leo spent his last years at St. Clair's Nursing Home, Ballinderry.Rev. Fr. Colm Browne (CC, Mullingar), led tributes to Leo as he was removed from his son Bill's home at Lynn, Mullingar on Monday evening last, to the Cathedral of Christ the King.Fr. Browne celebrated Requiem Mass for the repose of his soul on Tuesday morning, as huge crowds turned out to pay their respects to Leo, the Daly family and extended families.He is survived by his children Rosaleen, Kathleen, Louise, William, Eugene, John, Justine and Bridaine, brothers Frank and Gavan, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, sisters-in-law Rose, Mary Jo, Trina, Eithne and Lily, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, relatives and a large circles of friends and former colleagues.Leo was laid to rest at Ballyglass Cemetery, Mullingar after Mass on Tuesday morning.