Hugh (Aodh) Kieran obituary: Raconteur, history buff and lover of music and art

This article is one of a series about people who have died with coronavirus in Ireland and among the diaspora. Read more at irishtimes.com/covid-19-lives-lost. If you would like a friend or family member included in the series, please email: liveslost@irishtimes.com.

Hugh (Aodh) Kieran 1947-2020

Hugh (Aodh) Kieran loved going to quizzes and went to all the events hosted at his local library in Dundalk. He was a valued member of the Louth library service, an avid reader and a history buff.

Christened Hugh after his father, he was known to family and friends as Aodh. They all also considered him a gentleman and a gentle man, according to his niece Tereza Kieran. He was a man “of keen intellect, a wealth of knowledge, and a lover of music and art”.

Born on December 28th, 1947, in Dundalk, he lived all his life in the Co Louth town. The youngest of five siblings, he is predeceased by his brothers Alick and Emmet and his sister Maura. His brother Gerard survives him.

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His father was a tailor and his mother Madeleine worked making corsetry. Aodh, who attended the local Christian Brothers school, was very artistic and as an adult did a lot of painting, selling some of his work. He also showed great skill at engraving glass.

He did a Fás course in restoration work and later went to college and did cultural studies at Dundalk Institute.

A quiet and introverted man, he is nonetheless remembered as a great conversationalist and raconteur during weekly hill walks with a club.

His niece recalls that he wouldn’t argue about things, “but when it came to politics he would have his own views. He’d state his case on politics and was not for turning.”

He was unconscious but they put the phone up to his ear and allowed us to say our goodbyes

Aodh never married or had children and lived with his late sister Maura and niece Tereza until the last three years of his life, when he moved into Dealgan House nursing home.

"He got sick on a Friday and on the Monday he was taken to Lourdes hospital in Drogheda and they tested him," his niece says. Because of restrictions and family members being vulnerable they were not able to visit him. "He was unconscious but they put the phone up to his ear and allowed us to say our goodbyes.

Less than a week after he tested positive, he died in the hospital on April 9th, aged 72. One of the nurses held his hand when he passed.