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23 messages

where is David O Docherty?

03 Mar 10 - 10:08 PM (#2855516)
Subject: where is David O Docherty?
From: chordstrangler

I would be very grateful if anybody could supply me with info about David who was for very many years a very good friend of mine. we fell out at a particularly difficult period in both our lives but now, in my old age, I think that it's time to mend a few fences. The last I heard of him he was living somewhere around Boston and was not only playing, storytelling, but also doing very well.
Should any Catter out there know him, perhaps they might pass on fraternal greetings from Mickey MacConnell from Co. Fermanagh in the North of Ireland and nudge him into getting into contact with a small fragment of his long-lost youth....thanks...CS


03 Mar 10 - 11:13 PM (#2855540)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: Anglo

I haven't seen him in a good while but I have heard recent reports from Bostonians that he is around and flourishing, that his art career is doing well. You'll have to wait for others for more specific info - I too would like to hear more.


04 Mar 10 - 10:43 AM (#2855884)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: chordstrangler

Thanks Anglo.


04 Mar 10 - 08:34 PM (#2856382)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: KathWestra

Talk with someone from the Folksong Society of Greater Boston. David has a cut on their anniversary CD, released within the past couple of years. I served as David's booking agent many years ago (1974-75) when I was 20 years old and lived in Latham, NY. I still have a lovely framed oil pastel portrait of me that David did in 1975; it hangs in my house in Silver Spring, MD. Let me know if you find out a current address/phone. I'd like to reconnect with David too. Kathy


20 Jun 10 - 10:20 AM (#2931450)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Annabel O'Docherty

Have just found this thread through Google. I'm sorry to have to tell you all that my father, David O'Docherty, died yesterday morning while swimming off Martha's Vineyard where he and his wife Gail were staying with friends. It seems likely that he had a heart attack. He was 75 and still going strong, tho not in the best of health. We're all very shocked at the moment and still trying to absorb the news.


20 Jun 10 - 11:07 AM (#2931459)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: maeve

I am so sorry for your loss, Annabel. How kind of you to take time to post the sad news for your father's friends here.

maeve


20 Jun 10 - 03:21 PM (#2931572)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Michael S

So Sorry to hear about David. Are there arrangements yet


20 Jun 10 - 10:52 PM (#2931755)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,ziggy hartfelder

annabel, i am bereft at the news of your daddy's passing, and i am thinking so much of you today. the last time i saw david he accosted me with a tape recorder and asked me to sing "hard times' for him, i was too shy to do it, as i was standing on a sidewalk in manchester, massachusetts .tonight at a seisun, i sang it in his honor. i loved him very much- he was a powerful figure of a man....


20 Jun 10 - 10:53 PM (#2931756)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_hC4bUiTNA


21 Jun 10 - 06:34 AM (#2931857)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Annabel O'Docherty

Thank you, Ziggy, that made me cry, and thank you everyone else for your kind thoughts.

Dad didn't want a service, apparently, just to be cremated, but I'm pretty sure that there'll be some kind of celebration/wake/shindig both in Boston and in London, and maybe Dublin too. I will post here when I know.


21 Jun 10 - 08:28 AM (#2931905)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Gail O'Docherty

Just discovered this thread. Thank you all.


21 Jun 10 - 01:48 PM (#2932075)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Consella

Have emailed Gail separately, but the email address may not be valid. Mary, Sam and I were sad to hear the news and we send Gail our fondest wishes.


22 Jun 10 - 08:14 PM (#2932948)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Michael

Please let us know if and when there is a service in Boston.


23 Jun 10 - 08:36 AM (#2933202)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: Bonnie Shaljean

Gail and Annabel, there are also some messages about him on the "IrTrad" email group, based in Ireland but with international members. They will be online in the June archives, though I think you need to join to see them (make sure you specify that you don't want to receive emails or you'll get everything from that list, which works pretty much like Yahoo Groups does). Link is:

https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A0=IRTRAD-L


23 Jun 10 - 04:55 PM (#2933507)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: RiGGy

My fond memories of David go back to my Boston days, 30+ years ago.
His painting ABSINTHE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER hung
on my wall for a long time in CA until my wife made me give it back to David.
The perfect gentle man, he returned to me every cent I paid.
His whistle playing, singing and recitation were all top-notch. Missed.   Riggy


24 Jun 10 - 04:35 PM (#2934185)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: chordstrangler

As the one who originally instigated this thread I can only express my desolation and deepest sympathy to those this great man left behind. I knew him from the sixties and spent many happy hours in his company in Dublin and London. Goodbye old friend and may choirs of angels sing you to your rest.M


26 Jun 10 - 01:49 PM (#2935180)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Claire (McCallum) Prost

Uncle David;
Where did you go? Too soon you left this mortal life, doing one of the things you loved most and in a place you loved to be. You were a very gentle man, always looking at the best qualities in us. We are so fortunate to have been able to see you and Gail, both at your home and ours, several times in the last few years. We are very lucky to have several of your paintings hanging in our home which will be a constant reminder of you. One of those, a portrait of myself, done in Dublin, circa 1960 is admired by many. Our children, Fiona, Michael and Alexandra also have fond memories of you too. Each of them share in your passion for both painting and music. It's great that he was able to hear Michael's first crack at cutting a CD and see Fiona's paintings too.
We will miss you dearly but know that your legacy will live on in Annabel and Michael; their children Tommy, Alice and George.

May you rest in peace.



Claire and John


27 Jun 10 - 08:19 AM (#2935487)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Annabel O'Docherty

Dear Claire, thank you so much for all that. We haven't met since we were children, but I know that Dad was evry fond of all of your family and talked of you often. It's nice to know how much he will be missed.

There is going to be a small gathering of old friends and immediate family in London next Sunday (4th). We can't, unfortunately, accomodate a huge crowd, but if there are any old friends out there who would especially like to come please contact me at: aod(remove this) at dsl(remove this).pipex.com

Hope you can decipher that, folks. I'm posting my address like that to avoid picking up masses of spam...


27 Jun 10 - 08:19 PM (#2935746)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: KathWestra

What very sad news. My condolences to Gail and other family members. I knew David well in 1974-75, when I was a very young woman living in the Albany, NY, area. I served as David's mostly volunteer agent, booking a singing/flute- and whistle-playing tour around New England for David. He was a terrific performer, and audiences (both folkies and Irish club patrons) loved him. I got him a memorably rowdy gig at the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in a particularly sleazy section of Troy, NY in the spring of '75, and had the fun of accompanying him to NYC to watch the St. Paddy's day parade and his performance at the St. Paddy's day bash at the Irish-American Club in New York City that same year. What a wonderful singer David was--and what an incredible flute and whistle player. He was not painting much in those days, but he did do a lovely oil pastel portrait of me (in lieu of paying me for my agent services), which still hangs in my home. Last time we were in touch, David was living in Winthrop, Mass., just outside Boston. RIP, my friend. I'm so glad things went better for you in these later years. Kathy


28 Jun 10 - 07:41 PM (#2936326)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: KathWestra

p.s. to Annabel,
Thanks for providing your e-mail address. I will be in touch with you that way. Thinking of you all during this sad time.
Kathy Westra


29 Jun 10 - 11:50 AM (#2936685)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: lisa null

I have wonderful memories of David. he did a house concert at our house and I was blown away by his repertoire of wonderful tunes as well as his great playing on whistle and flute. We had a wonderful time a few years later at the Fox Hollow festival where we were part of a lnked-arm singing group that lasted into the early dawn. Go in peace David--


And to Gail and Annabel, my thoughts are with you.


03 Jul 10 - 10:37 AM (#2939122)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Bill O'Donnell

Dear Gail,
I learned just yesterday of David's death. I had been thinking of him the past month or so and hoping things were going well for the two of you. He was an extraordinary man in so many ways with abundant
talent and rare humanity.
Although in the past couple of years I didn't see David much, I valued every meeting & lunch and chat we had in earlier times.He was a kind & gentle man, full of passion and the juice of life. I felt very warmed by his friendship and his kind words about things I had written in my Boston Irish Reporter column, 'Here & There.'
He was always willing to discuss, debate or ruminate about the issues of the moment or events reaching back to Ireland's past.
Please contact me at bjod@cox.net or care of the Boston Irish Reporter so I can inform readers if a memorial celebration in or around Boston happens. My thoughts are with you. Bill O'Donnell


30 Jul 10 - 12:14 AM (#2954930)
Subject: RE: where is David O Docherty?
From: GUEST,Sandy Furman

Dear Gail,

I am so sorry to have read, in yesterday's Globe, of David's passing last month. It's been nearly twenty years since you and I shared an office on South Street. I considered both of you as friends, and I appreciated David's art and music, wit and wisdom. I hope the outpouring of love on this thread gives you some comfort.

Sandy