Friend to all: Tommy Makem remembered as kind, loving man

Friday, August 10, 2007
Friend to all: Tommy Makem remembered as kind, loving man

By THOMAS R. KRESSLER
Democrat Staff Writer




Dover Fire Department personnel remove Irish folk musician Tommy Makem's casket from atop Engine 3 at St. Mary Church in Dover, New Hampshire for a Mass of Christian Burial on Thursday, August 09, 2007.
(Mike Ross/Chief photographer)





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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 with him last Wednesday when the beloved Irish-American singer passed away at the age of 74. Makem, a longtime Dover resident regarded as the "Godfather" of Irish music, died 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, which lasted about two hours. 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 concertina 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 silenced, carrying with it Makem's casket.





THE DOVER FIRE AND RESCUE HONOR GUARD carries the casket of Irish singer Tommy Makem to Engine 3 for transport to Saint Mary Cemetery following services at Saint Mary Church in Dover Thursday morning.
(John Huff/Staff photographer)



The casket was draped with Irish and American flags and was 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 the 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 MacPhaidin returned home to Ireland in 1965, 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."

There was something elemental about Makem's art, said MacPhaidin. He was able to "push back the darkness" and lift up weary souls. Fans were fanatical about Makem's songs — with "Four Green Fields" and "Red is the Rose" among the more famous — and would demand several encores.





Irish folk musician Tommy Makem's casket is escorted out of St. Mary Church in Dover following a Mass of Christian Burial on Thursday.
(AP Photo: Foster's Daily Democrat/Mike Ross)


After a while, MacPhaidin said, Makem would reply: "Have ye's no home to go to?"

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.

"Tommy was a friend to all he met," said Hardiman. "From the streets in the great cities of the world, to his evening walks down Central Avenue in Dover."

The Rev. Fritz Cerullo, of St. Mary Church, called Makem a "master of kindness" and a man of quiet confidence who could inspire others.

"He was not pretentious in any way," Cerullo said. "He knew who he was and more importantly he knew where he came from."

Cerullo quoted Makem, who famously said when asked if he planned to retire, "Yes, of course, I retire every night and in the morning when I awake I realize just how lucky and privileged I am to be able to continue doing the things I love to do."





IRISH FOLK LEGEND TOMMY MAKEM Nov. 4, 1932 Aug. 1, 2007



Makem simply retired again on Aug. 1., Cerullo said, "and he woke up in the kingdom of God and he found his place in the choir of Heaven."

Gov. John Lynch and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen were in attendance along with a number of city officials, including Mayor Scott Myers. World-renowned bagpipe player Paddy Keenan provided music during the funeral.

Afterwards, the processional left St. Mary Church for St. Mary New 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 Father 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."