Living Legend Poll

Bunclody Person of the 20th Century

Organised by our sixth class pupils

On our website poll taken during the first six weeks of 2000 we asked:

Who deserves the title "Bunclody Person of the 20th Century?"

The people chosen by our sixth classes were as follows:

Monsignor R. Breen - first chairperson of our BOM

Mary Canning - noted for her years of voluntary work

Canon Séamus de Val - scholar and historian

Noel Ryan - GAA leader and trainer of youth teams

Rory Murphy - politician, historian and businessman

Of the 3625 votes cast 62% were given to Rory Murphy

Our photograph below shows Rory receiving his presentation on 18th February 2000

The brief report on Rory Murphy below was written by his grandchildren Dean Redmond and Shane Kehoe.

Our Granddad Rory Murphy

Our Granddad Rory was born in Dublin in 1927 the eldest son of Philip and Eileen Murphy. He lived in Dublin until he was three. Then he and his sister Aileen moved to live with their granny in Ballinavocran in Bunclody because his mother was very sick. Two of his brothers Frank and Phil went to live in Knockaree. His mother died a couple of days before his fourth birthday so he and his sister continued to live with their grandmother.

He went to primary school in Kilmyshall, and then went to secondary school in Dublin where he lived with his father and his stepmother. He returned home to Bunclody to help his uncles on the family farm. He was a progressive young farmer and he helped set up a local branch of Macra Na Feirme, a national organisation for young farmers. He was later to become national president of Macra. He married a local girl, Nancy Kelly in 1956 and they went on to have six children, four daughters and two sons - Máirín. Paula, Rory, Frank, Barbara-Anne and Fidelma.

In relation to our local schools, he was a member of the first Board of Management of our own Our Lady of Lourdes NS and served on the F.C.J. Secondary School Parent's Council for a number of years. Outside the locality he served on the Board of R.T.E., the National Sugar Company and C.E.R.T. - he served two terms as Chairman of An Foras Taluntais and was a founder of the Irish National Heritage Park at Ferrycarrig which depicts 9,000 years of Irish history. He served the area for almost twenty-five years as a member of Wexford County Council and also served as a member of many of its subcommittees. At present he is vice-chairman of the County Wexford Vocational Educational Committee, which looks after the Vocational Colleges of the county.

He is very interested in local history and traces the family history of many visitors to the county. He traced his grandmother's family tree and published a book containing thousands of relatives called "The Handrick's of Mt. Leinster". He has written a number of other books on local history, including a short history of the Battle of Newtownbarry, the 1798 battle that took place in Bunclody, two volumes of "The Wexford Gentry" and others. He is an avid member of Bunclody Historical Society and was instrumental in setting up the Storytelling, which began last year in Bunclody.