The memories came flooding back as friends, family and former colleagues toasted three special men in Dublin this week. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern praised the selfless career of T.K. Whitaker, and in particular his role in designing the Irish economic revolution of the late 1950s.
The late Seán Lester and Todd Andrews were the other two men singled out as key figures in building the State.
The families of all three came to the ESB's heritage home at 29 Fitzwilliam Street Lower, in Dublin to hear about an upcoming three-part series on RTÉ, Nation Builders. It will document and celebrate each man's contribution and commitment to his country, and will be presented by broadcaster and historian, John Bowman.
Stockbroker John Gageby remembered his grandfather Seán Lester, former secretary general of the League of Nations, as a very calm person. "He didn't get fussed about anything. He smoked about 60 to 70 cigarettes a day. He loved gardening and fishing. We were all given rods when we were seven or eight."
Joyce Andrews, who became Todd Andrews's second wife in 1968, said he was "a very charismatic person with a very lively mind, very original. He had a great sense of humour, was a marvellous manager, dynamic and tremendously patriotic. His job wasn't about making a living. For him it was about carrying out an ideal". Andrews is probably best remembered as the person responsible for establishing and developing Bord na Móna.
"His house was always full of books and literature," said his grandson, broadcaster Ryan Tubridy. He was 12 when Andrews died, but recalled "his big hands on our heads" when he used them as his (pretend) walking sticks. "He was a very tall man, kind of stooped," he said.
Tomás F. Ó Cofaigh, former governor of the Central Bank and secretary of the Department of Finance, who followed closely in the footsteps of T.K. Whitaker, greeted him in Irish. "He has a great sense of humour," Ó Cofaigh said. "He was always very approachable, and he has marvellous Irish. We were of a generation that those of us who were enthusiastic spoke Irish," he explained. Whitaker played "a new dynamic role in the development of the country," he said.
What in particular does Whitaker remember of those days? "I remember mostly the humorous episodes," he said, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
The series, which is produced by Esras Films, will be screened on successive Tuesdays, starting on June 24th on RTÉ 1.