A 'giant of a man' is laid to rest

'THEY don't make them like that anymore'. It's an oft-stated quote and could well have originated about the likes of John Murphy.

Hitch hiking out of Cahersiveen in the early 1930s, the Loughmark man found his way to Holyhead and eventually landed in the Irish epicentre of London where he quickly became a mogul of the construction industry.

Last Thursday he made his last journey home, where a lone piper led the way to his final resting place. At 95 years of age and a fortune of over £200million amassed, John James Murphy's life is the stuff of legend.

Celebrating the Requiem Mass at Daniel O'Connell Memorial Church, Canon William Crean said that this legend is embellished on each retelling.

"An engineer once remarked apparently to John that Rome wasn't built in the day. He got the retort that 'Murphy wasn't around then', such was John's vision and creativity," the Canon remarked during an emotive homily.

A packed church – mourners greeted at the door by one of the few public pictures taken of the self effacing man – they came in their droves from Cahersiveen, London and beyond to pay their last respects.

John was famous for employing Irishmen, particularly in giving Kerrymen and Corkmen 'a start'. A hands on approach, he was regularly seen with a brush or shovel in hand as he chatted with employees. It's an approach that paid off and so hundreds of business men, employees, beneficiaries and friends joined family members – including wife Kathleen, sons Bernard and James and daughter Caroline – in saying their farewells.

"John left Cahersiveen as a young man and yet his earliest experience of faith and life here, shaped his character and temperament so profoundly," Canon Crean continued. "Through all the enormous changes that life brought his way he seemed steadied by an unseen anchor."

Stating that John had "roots and wings" in equal amounts, the Canon added that John's memory will live long in many people's memories.

"Across seven decades, countless Irish people in England found employment – the fruit of which gave a new life to so many families not just in England but here at home as well."

Tributes followed from son Bernard, who said that he never lost his love for fishing and Kerry football, and daughter Caroline, who recalled her father's tales of childhood days.

With the sounds of the McCrohan Tenors' The Boys of Barr na Sráide echoing through the historic church – a building that the man himself helped fund – the requiem came to a close. John Murphy was eventually escorted through the streets of Cahersiveen and laid to rest to the sounds of a lone piper.

When the wheel of life runs out he asked to be taken back to that old town between the hills and sea, to take his rest in those green fields of the place where life began: Sigerson Clifford.