Tipperary TD pays tribute to a close friend and a scouting figurehead

People turned out in large numbers from all over the country last week to pay their respects to John Casey who passed away on Sunday March 22 after a short illness. (By Seamus Healy  Tipperary TD)

I had the privilege of knowing John since I was a boy, a friendship we enjoyed for 60-odd years through the many ups and downs in the journey of life.

READ MORE: Moving tributes paid to a scouting figurehead

I first got to know John in 1962 when he was invited to a meeting of the boy scouts, of which I was a member, to instruct us in first aid. He was bitten by the scouting bug and shortly after, became assistant scout master of our troop, leading us to victory in the First Aid Cup at the Diocesan shield competition in Faithlegg in 1965.

John’s enthusiasm for life was infectious and he was a joy to be around. It wasn’t long until we became firm friends.
John and his beloved late-wife Helen were friends to all and they were special friends to me and my late wife Mary. I have so many great memories of the times we spent together but the highlights must be from the two-week annual scout-camps of which John was so proud.

A two-week programme of scouting activities and camping under tents for boy-scouts, and later also for girl-scouts, of the town. This annual scout-camp tradition, which has been unbroken from 1962 excepting the Covid years, was our favourite time of year.

We faced a genuine dilemma then when we got married as to how to explain to our wives that we planned to continue spending two weeks of our annual holidays without them each year. Initially, we did camp without them, and I remember Helen coming to visit John, who was by then her husband, on scout camp in Blackwater, Co. Wexford in 1972 while staying in a nearby B&B.

It was clear this couldn’t go on forever. The solution presented itself to us at Jamborora, the 50th anniversary of Scouting in Ireland, held in Mount Mellary in 1977 when myself, John and our fellow scout leader Joe Keane saw the families of the scout leaders camping in a field nearby.

The women would be invited on scout camp!
It must be said they were somewhat reluctant campers at first but each lady came up with her own survival strategy – frequent trips to the coffee shop for Mary Healy, episodes of Coronation Street for Breda Keane and long spells of sun-bathing for Helen Casey. Thus, a family tradition was born.

The Casey, Keane and Healy children, along with the children of many more scout leaders besides, were reared on scout-camps across Wexford, Kerry and Wales throughout the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, creating memories to last a lifetime with invited scout-friends from Ardfinnan, Ballymac, Fethard, Kilsheelan and even Killorglin in Kerry joining in the fun.
Whether he was to be found careering down a water-slide in Oakwood, lighting fireworks at a campfire or piling 15 scouts into a Ford Cortina on the side of the road in Wexford, these were the times John was at his best.
In recent years, I have acted as quarter-master on scout camp, and John, my “assistant”.

We cut an unlikely duo in the supermarkets around Youghal and Wexford town buying groceries for our family of a hundred scouts, John causing havoc in “the middle aisle” and having great craic with the staff.
John served as group leader for Clonmel Scouts for over 40 years and as the figure-head for scouting in the town, I was immensely proud of him.

In addition to the programme of scouting laid on for young people, his charitable nature shone through in his role as Group Leader. For many happy years, together with his good friend in scouting Don Clarke, John mobilised the whole scout gang, to go into the woods, cut, block and deliver thousands of tonnes of wood to the needy of the town.

The same team also organised and oversaw the distribution of surplus EU butter and beef to those in need.
In recognition of his service, dedication and commitment to scouting, he was a worthy recipient of the rare Order of the Silver Wolfhound, the highest honour Scouting Ireland can award.

Another honour awarded to him which gave him equal pleasure was being made Grand Marshall of the Clonmel St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2024.

READ NEXT: Profound sadness at passing of one of Clonmel's finest

The Scout Law says that a scout should be: loyal, trustworthy, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave and pure, with God’s Glory in mind. John was all those things and more. In fact, some might hardly recognise him from that list because, as well as all of those things, he was also brilliant fun, forever young at heart, always up for divilment and merry-making and genuinely hilarious. John’s adoring family and his countless friends in Scouting, the gun club, the Nationalist, neighbours and all, are heartbroken at his passing, but he has left us with a treasure trove of memories of a life well-lived, one that we were very fortunate to be a part of.