Cork centenarian: ‘I was a pupil at North Mon with Jack Lynch’

When you were born while the Irish Civil War was still raging, and you went to school at the same time as Jack Lynch, it’s fair to say you have a treasure trove of memories.

That’s certainly the case with Cork man Joe Davis, who is 103.

When I ask him where he met his wife Pat, who he was married to for 57 years, he smiles: “You’re really jogging my memory now!”

“I was invited on a day trip to Gougane Barra,” recalls Joe. “I knew some of the people going, but not all of them. We travelled in two taxis and we called into Cronins.”

The party had already started.

“Pat was celebrating her 21st birthday in Cronins,” says Joe. “We got chatting.”

He must have been a sweet talker.

“We got married at 9am in the morning in the Well Road,” says Joe. And the rest as they say, is history.

“We had three children, Carl, Ruth, and Jean.”

Joe, speaking with me in his charming sitting-room at his southside Cork home, was born on March 19, 1923, just three months after the founding of the Irish state.

“I grew up in a house in Gardiner’s Hill,” he says. “I went to school in the North Mon and Jack Lynch was a pupil there at the same time as me.

“He was a few years ahead of me. Jack was always a nice, pleasant man, a great hurler too as you know.”

Joe was a great worker.

“I joined Dunlop in 1943, which was during the war years. I was 20 years old and I worked on the shop floor making tyres.

“Dunlop and Ford were major employers in Cork. There was as many women working there as men. In Dunlop there was a footwear section too where machinery was operated. Over the years there were workers’ strikes but industrial relations remained good.”

Joe was appreciated.

“I worked my way up to Managing Director in Dunlop,” says Joe. “And I worked for the company for a time managing factories in India.”

He reached lofty heights.

“We walked into the Taj Mahal!” recalls Joe. “In my time, there was no such thing as commercial tourism. There was a man cutting the grass outside the Taj Mahal and we walked up the steps and we did the tour!”

In Joe’s time, life wasn’t always easy either.

“I was three and a half when my dad died,” he says. “I only found out what he did for a living when the 1926 census came out.”

What did Frank Davis do for a living?

“He was a bonded warehouse assistant on the quays,” says Joe.

Joe Davis meets Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Dublin Castle recently to mark the 1926 Census being made public. Joe went to North Mon at the same time as previous Cork Taoiseach Jack Lynch

“My mother was a great person. She learned a trade as a dress-maker which she was very good at, and she took in lodgers to make ends meet. On the night the first census (in the Irish state, in 1926) was taken, there was three lodgers in the house.”

Joe and his mother ‘lost’ another family member for a while.

“My brother Frank joined the Christian Brothers,” says Joe. “He left as a boy at 12, we didn’t see him again until he was 18 when he was a man. He wasn’t allowed to write to us. Another sign of the times.”

How did his mother feel about that?

“It was one mouth less to feed,” says Joe. “Frank eventually left the order.”

Goodwill in the 14 terraced houses in The Cresent on Gardiner’s Hill was plentiful.

“The terrace was half-Catholic people and half-Protestant people,” says Joe. “All the neighbours helped one another out. We all gelled. Back in the day there was no support for people.”

In the present day, Joe is hale and hearty. Chatty, curious, and sociable, he is well read and well informed at the ripe old age of 103. He even plays a tune on the piano.

What is his secret?

“I never overdid anything,” says Joe, who tries to attend mass every morning. “And I have to say I am a great reader.

“I am very lucky to have a great family who look after me. Jean keeps me topped up in the fridge.”

Is he still the boss?

“I think my granddaughter is the boss!” he says. “I am happy with that!”

Jean Davis says that her dad is a great role model for his children and grandchildren.

“He was always a very kind, loving person who always looked on the bright side of life,” says Jean. “He was determined and he always moved with the times.”

Joe likes hanging out with his mates.

“I like to have a coffee after mass with my friends,” says Joe.

And he likes to party.

“We had his 100th birthday party in the Maryborough up the road,” says Jean. “It was a great celebration with all his family and friends. We have a great community here.”

Joe, who was a hurler and who played hockey, puts his longevity down to living a good life filled with love and laughter.

Joe and his wife Pat, who were married for 57 years. 

“When mum was in hospital for a long spell suffering from dementia, dad would go into St Finbarr’s Hospital every day and moisturise her skin,” says Jean.

“We used to say mum had the best skin in the county!”

Pat worked in Roches Stores as a buyer. “Mum worked away until she married dad,” says Jean.

It was a good idea to save up for the future, wasn’t it?

“Yes. And we always joked mum was earning more money than dad at the time! Dad always valued mum’s opinion and I remember they always discussed things.”

Pat always looked well.

“Dad did her make-up in hospital too! Mum recognised his voice as soon as he entered the door.”

Joe was welcome everywhere.

“He got to know all the nurses,” says Jean.

Joe always remembers them.

“They were great caring people,” he says.

He is interested in people and in the news.

“I have all my newspapers on my iPad!” he says. “And I love watching the matches and keeping up with them.”

Joe recalls the good times and the bad times over the decades.

“The 1920s saw hard times,” he says.“Things picked up in the ’30s and they became more stable.”

Joe has seen many changes over the years. What major change stands out?

“Communication,” he says. “One time you had to write a letter to a person in Australia that would take weeks to be delivered. And you’d wait for a reply. Now I can talk to and see my grandson in Australia in my sitting room on the phone. It is an extraordinary situation.”

What wonderful memory stands out for Joe over his fulfilled lifetime?

“I would say being in the Taj Mahal,” he says. “It was an amazing experience.”

Joe is fond of lofty heights, as a trip to Rome once proved.

Joe Davis and his children, Carl, Jean, and Ruth. Joe says: “I am very lucky to have a great family who look after me”

“In 1961/62, I walked into St Peter’s at Easter for Sunday Mass. The church was fairly crowded but not full. I got to go up to the platform further up from the balcony where the Pope comes out to address the congregation. I was higher up than the Pope!”

Joe wasn’t one for a drink.

“I never drank much at all,” he says. “When I was out with work or with friends for an occasion, I always drank a tonic water. Nobody knew what I was drinking.”

One time he had a cold.

“I was at a meeting where my colleague ordered a gin and tonic. I asked him for a tonic water. He said, ‘For God’s sake Joe, put a gin in it!’”

Joe did.

What was the result?

“I went home and said it to Pat,” says Joe. “She was delighted and said that it would do me good! That it would relax me.”

Joe, who has lived a charmed life, is relaxed at his beautiful home where happy memories abound and laughter rings out loud.

I tell him I am delighted to meet such a wonderful man with so much wisdom and wit.

“And it was a real pleasure meeting you,” says Joe as we bid farewell.