Craic On

This was originally posted in January 2007 and has been rescued from the archive of the old version of CraicOn.

Long Time No See

Gerry McLaughlin, 78, who was born in River Row, Moville, where he still owns a house, spent his first Christmas in his home town of Moville this year for the first time since he was a callow 20 year old youth.

He got married in Greenock, Scotland when he was 24 and spent all his Christmases from then till now there where the bulk of his family lived.

Prior to that he had been at sea and missed a few Christmases.

I bet when he was 20 years of age and passing a happy Christmas in Moville he would never had predicted that his next Christmas there would be 58 years later.

Family Occasion

Previously more of his family had been in, or close to Greenock, but now 3 of his 10 children live in Moville with another living in South Armagh and another in Dublin, both of whom came to Moville over the Christmas period.

I do remember, as a teenager in Greenock, (yes he is my father) that he always ended night prayers with “The family that prays together…” after which we replied “stays together”.

We always tease him that he and my mother are now the last ones left in Greenock, but as my mother says he meant stays together in spirit.

Good Stay

He really enjoyed his stay here over Christmas. The highlight was a night out at The Waterfront with his family in Moville and their husbands/ wives/girlfriends/boyfriends.

Maybe we’ll see him next year as well.