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It was an amazing surprise earlier this week when Newry's first Mayor and SDLP veteran Frank Feely graduated in the city 64 years after getting his degree on the same day as his grand-daughter.
Organised by his family without his knowledge he was finally able to wear his graduation gown along with grand-daughter Tara Savage.
Frank is a former Head of History at St Colman's College and has had a long and successful political career in Newry and South Down and he completed a Bachelor of Arts in History, Irish and English in the late 1950s but did not have the opportunity to attend his graduation ceremony at the time.
Born in Kiltimagh Co. Mayo on December 2, 1937 Frank Feely is the eldest of five children, but has lived in Newry, Co. Down since leaving his family in Mayo to teach History at St. Colman's College in September 1958.
Frank and his grand-daughter Tara Savage, daughter of Newry Mourne and Down's current Chairperson Michael Savage, were among over 1,700 graduates to be conferred with their degrees at NUI Galway on August 29th.
Youngest and Oldest
Mr Feely was one of the youngest ever students to attend Galway University in October 1955 at the age of 17 after successfully completing the Matric Examination following his Leaving Cert studies as a boarder at St. Nathy's College in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, and returning over 60 years later, he is one of the oldest graduates to have attended a conferring ceremony at the University.
Frank successfully completed his BA Hons Degree in History, Irish and English in June 1958 aged just 20. He loved his time at Galway University and was an active member of the Literary Debating Society and the Handball Team.
In the summer of 1958 upon completing his degree, Frank went to work on the building sites in London. While he was there his mother sent him a cutting of an advertisement in the Irish Press for a job as a History teacher in St Colman's College, Newry, Co. Down.
Canon Pettit the then President of the school travelled to Dublin and interviewed Frank and he was offered the job. He was one of the first lay teachers to teach at the College.
He started teaching at St. Colman's College in Newry in the Autumn of 1958 but was not allowed by the College’s Vice President at the time Father James Haughey, who managed the staff, to travel back to Galway for his graduation.
Father Haughey was aware of Frank’s love for the social and cultural freedoms he discovered in Galway that were a world away from his early life in rural Mayo and feared that Frank would not come back if he returned to the city for his graduation.
Frank recalls the words Father Haughey said to him at the time, He said: “Feely, if I let you go back to your beloved Galway you will never return!”
The Return to Galway
NUI Galway President, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh welcomed Mr Feely back to campus and to the stage to be recognised and celebrated alongside his granddaughter Tara Savage, who was conferred with a Bachelor of Arts.
Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, NUI Galway President, said: “All of us at the University are honoured to be able to recognise Frank Feely after all these years and in a special way on the day that his granddaughter Tara Savage is conferred. I am aware of Mr Feely’s regret at not being able to attend his own graduation ceremony with his classmates and it is a great delight that we got to play a small part in his celebration as he took to the stage with his granddaughter today.”
Mr Feely secured a role as a teacher in St Colman's College, Newry, within weeks of completing his degree and he went on to be Head of History in the school. In 1968, he became involved in politics and the Civil Rights Movement and the foundation of the SDLP, and remained involved in politics being elected the First Mayor of Newry and also being part of negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Feely’s political endeavours for peace in the North have been acknowledged in an exhibition in the museum in his home town of Kiltimagh.
Mr Feely said: “I am very happy and incredibly grateful to be able to share this wonderful occasion with my granddaughter Tara. I loved the ceremony and to see the large number of people there today. When I was here in the 1950’s there was only a few hundred of students studying altogether, and most were male, but today about 70% were female so it’s fantastic to see the developments that have happened over the years. I would like to thank my family, the University and Tara for organising to allow me to come today and participate in the ceremony. It was well worth waiting over 60 years.”
Tara, who graduated with a BA Hons in Law and Politics said: “It has been a couple of months in the planning so it was great to be able to finally see it happen and to unveil the big surprise to him. It is such a special day, made even more special by being able to share it with granddad.”
Now aged 84 Mr Feely and his wife Ella still lives in Newry, where they raised their three children, daughter Noreen and sons Kieran and Niall.
The conferring celebrations for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD degrees took place from Thursday August 25, to Monday August 29.
The Graduate
Now aged 84 and in good health Frank still lives in Newry with his wife Ella, who has been his rock throughout his political career and his daughter Noreen and sons Kieran and Niall.
He now reflects on a life well lived, filled with many achievements, but he has always expressed regret that he never got to give his late mother and father the day out at his graduation that they deserved for putting him through University and he regrets not being there with the rest of the 175 students who made up the Galway Graduates of 1958. He was invited back for the 50 Year celebrations in 2008 and loved meeting up with his old college friends and still talks fondly of that occasion.
To this day Frank has always regretted not going back to Galway for his graduation in 1958. He missed out on his big day with all his friends and has said more importantly his mother and father never got the pleasure of seeing him graduate after investing so much in his education. He often said they would have loved to have seen his photo in the local paper.
Frank became Head of History at St. Colman's and never had a student fail in O; Level or A; Level throughout his career at the school.
In 1968 Frank became involved in Northern politics and was elected to the Civil Rights Movement. He was a founding member of the SDLP and was elected to the Stormont Assembly for the constituency of South Down on a number of occasions throughout the 1970s and 80s.
Frank had a long and successful political career with the party, winning 10 out of the 11 elections he fought from 1972 through to his retirement in April 2015 and was elected as a party delegate to the Good Friday Agreement Talks.
He could count John Hume and Seamus Mallon as personal friends and following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 Frank was the first person appointed to a Cross-Border Body, nominated by John Hume and Seamus Mallon to the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission, an appointment endorsed by the Irish Government. He also sat on the East Border Region Committee for 20 years which supported peace projects North and South.
He was elected the First Mayor of Newry in 2003 after taking the bold step of receiving City Status for Newry from Queen Elizabeth II a year earlier as one of the first major gestures of reconciliation of the fledgling peace process in the North. Frank was the Vice Chairman of Newry and Mourne Council in 2002 and stepped in to accept the City Status from the Queen after the Sinn Fein Council Chairman at the time refused to go.
Frank Feely never forgot his West of Ireland roots and the people he grew up with never forgot him. Frank’s political endeavours for peace in the North have been acknowledged by the Museum in his home town of Kiltimagh.
Frank's love of Galway never left him and he continues to visit the city a few times a year and is a perennial attender at Race Week. He has always said Galway is the best place in Ireland and encouraged his grand-daughter Tara to choose NUIG to study her degree.
He is extremely proud that his grand-daughter Tara has followed in his footsteps to attend the same University where he had his first lecture over 67 years ago and where they both graduate today despite completing their studies 64 years apart.
