Subject: Foster's Daily Democrat article re' Makem funeral
From:
katlaughing
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 10:47 PM
It's okay and, even preferable for archiving, to post full articles when they are about music, esp. someone like Tommy. Here's the one PattyClink posted about
DOVER — Tommy Hardiman greeted his cousin Tommy Makem at Boston's Logan Airport in 1955.
It was the first day of an American journey that would lead Makem to worldwide fame.
Hardiman also was in the room last Wednesday when the vaunted Irish-American singer passed away at the age of 74. Makem, a longtime Dover resident regarded as the "Godfather" of Irish music, died Aug. 1 after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.
"I can only thank God for allowing me to be that close to this noble man," said Hardiman, speaking at Makem's funeral Thursday at St. Mary Church. "Thank you for allowing us to sit back and dream of our ancestors and our ancestral home."
At least 1,500 people — including friends and family, local and state dignitaries and admirers of Makem's work — came to pay their respects at his service Thursday. They filled pews inside St. Mary Church, where Makem was a communicant, and overflowed into an adjoining room where the ceremony was being telecast.
As Hardiman finished up his remembrances, the faint sound of a handheld accordion intervened, played by Makem's longtime friend and collaborator Liam Clancy. Holding the squeezebox in his lap, Clancy sang the traditional song "The Bard of Armagh," a tribute to Makem, who was known by the same name.
"The songs you sang, the words you spoke, will always be remembered," said Makem's granddaughter Molly Dickerman. "You were a fighter, a lover, and most of all, an amazing person."
Crowds gathered along the sidewalks prior to the funeral as the City of Dover Fire and Rescue Department's Engine 3 led a processional down Central Avenue and Chestnut Street, its lights flashing and sirens silent, carrying with it Makem's casket.
The casket was draped with both Irish and American flags and brought into the church while the fire department's color guard and the police department's mounted patrol stood at attention. Flags adorned with Celtic crosses fluttered above the doorways.
"You can feel the weight of his presence in our midst today," said Rev. Bartley MacPhaidin, a former president of Stonehill College, where two of Makem's sons went to school.
Because he was studying abroad in the 1960s, when The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem sailed to stardom, Father MacPhaidin was unaware of their success when he first returned to Ireland in 1965. When he got home, he said, they were all the rage.
"And what a blessed rage it was to our ears," MacPhaidin said. "Their rage was a rage for joy and a rage for happiness ... it was a rage that uplifted people and bound people together and raised souls that hadn't experienced an uplift in years ... They did that for thousands and thousands of people."
Though famous for his singing, banjo playing, and storytelling, Makem's funeral was more about the man he was offstage. Friends and relatives called him a kind man who gave generously, lived modestly and loved his children and grandchildren dearly.
Gov. John Lynch and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen were both in attendance along with a number of city officials, including Mayor Scott Myers.
Afterwards, the processional left St. Mary Church for St. Mary Cemetery on Dover Point Road, where Makem was laid to rest alongside his wife, Mary, who died six years ago. About half the funeral attendees congregated around the grave site, forming a large circle around Rev. Fritz Cerullo.
Eugene Byrne, a local resident and fellow Irish musician, lamented the loss of Makem, who he called his mentor, teacher, hero, and friend.
"He was the music, he was the story. He was the words, he was the song," Byrne said. "The singer has passed, but the songs will live on forever."
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