Paul Rouse: A decent and intelligent local garda who helped make our town what it was
TRUE BLUE: PJ Stack was devoted to Gaelic football, playing with St Senan’s and then Feale Rangers.
Sitting in a taxi with PJ Stack was a pure joy; it was a great way to end a Saturday night in Tullamore. The spin out into the country was an entertainment and an education.
The best times were the nights when – at the end of the fare – he turned off the engine and just chatted. There was no rush.
Like the very best of talkers, he was also a brilliant listener and always asked the right question. When he spoke, his unique mix of intelligence and wit was wonderful. There was nothing that he could not make interesting. He knew the midlands inside out. It was a remarkable fusing of history and heritage, family connections and the most current local news.
That he had been a Garda for so many years before taking a taxi plate gave a very particular shape to his knowledge and the way he shared it.
So too did his upbringing.
PJ may have lived for six decades in Offaly, but there was a part of him that never left Kerry. He had been born in 1939, in Banemore, Listowel, one of four sons raised by Tom and Nora. He went to St Michael’s Secondary School in Listowel, where he had a great fondness for language and its many uses, thriving at Latin and English in particular.
He was devoted to Gaelic football, playing with St Senan’s and then Feale Rangers. He loved Kerry football. No amount of prodding or poking over the years could shake him from his belief in its greatness. If Kerry were not All-Ireland champions, he considered that they could only ever be on the cusp of regaining Sam.
His love of Kerry extended beyond football, of course. He knew the history of the county in great depth, and more than enough of all current news at any time.
He laughed when it was suggested to him that in migrating to Offaly he had moved to a superior civilisation; he made clear that while he lived in Offaly and loved the place, he would never renounce his birthplace.
He had ended up in Tullamore for work. After leaving school, he had joined the civil service at 16, but had then left four years later in 1959 to become a Garda.
He was first posted around the midlands, initially at stations in Tipperary and Cavan, before working in the village stations of Cloghan, Mount Bolus, and Clonbullogue around Co Offaly for a dozen years. The stories of his exploits in these stations live on in local lore. It was a different time and place, and PJ’s personality fitted it perfectly.
He moved to work in Tullamore Garda Station, where he was based from 1974 to 1996 (with the exception of three tours on the Border in the early years of the Troubles.
He was a man whose range of skills were perfectly fitted to work in those pre-digital years. He knew everything that was happening in the town and around it. This was due not least to the number of people he was friendly with and his interest in their lives. He was embedded in the social life of the town, someone that everyone recognised.
I had the great pleasure of being sent to his retirement party in Tullamore Garda Station in 1996 work as a reporter for the ‘Offaly Express’ newspaper.
The local Superintendent, Gerry Murray, put it plainly: “Nearly everyone seems to know him. He is known across the whole of the midlands and beyond. I’ve never heard a bad word said against him.
“As a Garda, he had a very outgoing personality. He could talk to anyone and could develop a conversation in any situation. He had a great way of dealing with people. He is a very decent man with a great sense of humour.”
For his part, Sergeant Jack Nolan said: “He is definitely of the old style and definitely also one of a kind. I would say that he was as well-known a policeman as ever served in the force.”
The fine words that are spoken about someone when they retire can usually be treated with extreme caution. The thing is, there was no faking the warmth and genuine sentiment of admiration in what was spoken that night. Or in the crush of people who were there.
The crowd who had gathered in the station came on top of a stream of well-wishers who had called in during the previous weeks as news of the impending retirement spread.
And, in general, that party was a remarkable occasion. As always, none of the stories that were told carry across onto the page. But there were many and they were told by many. And they were told with a pleasure and fun that was a privilege to witness.
It is not clear when exactly the party ended – but it was a fitting conclusion to a great career.
The move to the taxi was a great one; PJ kept talking to people and he built a great business out of it. Long into the new millennium, he drove the roads and when he finished that, his mind remained as razor-sharp as ever it had been. He still missed nothing and his humour and decency never faded.
When PJ passed away last month, he was surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife Margaret (née O’Sullivan, from Adrigole, Beara), his daughter Debbie and his sons Garrett, Padraic and Niall, and 11 grandchildren. He was pre-deceased by his beloved son Paul, who died suddenly in 1999. PJ is also survived by his brother, Tom, also a Garda who served for more than 30 years, including in stations in Dublin, with his two other brothers Michael and Jack having previously passed away.
On the night of his retirement as a Garda, PJ had said of his years in Tullamore: “It has been a lovely time. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it and met mighty characters over the years.”
The scale of the crowds who attended his funeral was a fitting tribute of respect to a man who was for so long a unique part of life in Tullamore and who made the town a better place.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
