{"id":490746,"date":"2026-05-18T14:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/490746\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T14:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:52:21","slug":"cork-centenarian-i-was-a-pupil-at-north-mon-with-jack-lynch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/490746\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork centenarian: ‘I was a pupil at North Mon with Jack Lynch’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s fair to say you have a treasure trove of memories.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly the case with Cork man Joe Davis, who is 103.<\/p>\n

When I ask him where he met his wife Pat, who he was married to for 57 years, he smiles: \u201cYou\u2019re really jogging my memory now!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was invited on a day trip to Gougane Barra,\u201d recalls Joe. \u201cI knew some of the people going, but not all of them. We travelled in two taxis and we called into Cronins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The party had already started.<\/p>\n

\u201cPat was celebrating her 21st birthday in Cronins,\u201d says Joe. \u201cWe got chatting.\u201d<\/p>\n

He must have been a sweet talker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got married at 9am in the morning in the Well Road,\u201d says Joe. And the rest as they say, is history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had three children, Carl, Ruth, and Jean.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in a house in Gardiner\u2019s Hill,\u201d he says. \u201cI went to school in the North Mon and Jack Lynch was a pupil there at the same time as me.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe was a few years ahead of me. Jack was always a nice, pleasant man, a great hurler too as you know.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Joe was a great worker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI joined Dunlop in 1943, which was during the war years. I was 20 years old and I worked on the shop floor making tyres.<\/p>\n

\u201cDunlop 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\u2019 strikes but industrial relations remained good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe was appreciated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked my way up to Managing Director in Dunlop,\u201d says Joe. \u201cAnd I worked for the company for a time managing factories in India.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reached lofty heights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe walked into the Taj Mahal!\u201d recalls Joe. \u201cIn 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!\u201d<\/p>\n

In Joe\u2019s time, life wasn\u2019t always easy either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was three and a half when my dad died,\u201d he says. \u201cI only found out what he did for a living when the 1926 census came out.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did Frank Davis do for a living?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a bonded warehouse assistant on the quays,\u201d says Joe.<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Davis meets Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l 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<\/p>\n

\u201cMy 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe and his mother \u2018lost\u2019 another family member for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother Frank joined the Christian Brothers,\u201d says Joe. \u201cHe left as a boy at 12, we didn\u2019t see him again until he was 18 when he was a man. He wasn\u2019t allowed to write to us. Another sign of the times.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did his mother feel about that?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one mouth less to feed,\u201d says Joe. \u201cFrank eventually left the order.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodwill in the 14 terraced houses in The Cresent on Gardiner\u2019s Hill was plentiful.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe terrace was half-Catholic people and half-Protestant people,\u201d says Joe. \u201cAll the neighbours helped one another out. We all gelled. Back in the day there was no support for people.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

What is his secret?<\/p>\n

\u201cI never overdid anything,\u201d says Joe, who tries to attend mass every morning. \u201cAnd I have to say I am a great reader.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very lucky to have a great family who look after me. Jean keeps me topped up in the fridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is he still the boss?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my granddaughter is the boss!\u201d he says. \u201cI am happy with that!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jean Davis says that her dad is a great role model for his children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always a very kind, loving person who always looked on the bright side of life,\u201d says Jean. \u201cHe was determined and he always moved with the times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe likes hanging out with his mates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to have a coffee after mass with my friends,\u201d says Joe.<\/p>\n

And he likes to party.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had his 100th birthday party in the Maryborough up the road,\u201d says Jean. \u201cIt was a great celebration with all his family and friends. We have a great community here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe, who was a hurler and who played hockey, puts his longevity down to living a good life filled with love and laughter.<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe and his wife Pat, who were married for 57 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen mum was in hospital for a long spell suffering from dementia, dad would go into St Finbarr\u2019s Hospital every day and moisturise her skin,\u201d says Jean.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to say mum had the best skin in the county!\u201d<\/p>\n

Pat worked in Roches Stores as a buyer. \u201cMum worked away until she married dad,\u201d says Jean.<\/p>\n

It was a good idea to save up for the future, wasn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\n \u201cYes. And we always joked mum was earning more money than dad at the time! Dad always valued mum\u2019s opinion and I remember they always discussed things.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Pat always looked well.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad did her make-up in hospital too! Mum recognised his voice as soon as he entered the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe was welcome everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got to know all the nurses,\u201d says Jean.<\/p>\n

Joe always remembers them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were great caring people,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He is interested in people and in the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have all my newspapers on my iPad!\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I love watching the matches and keeping up with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe recalls the good times and the bad times over the decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 1920s saw hard times,\u201d he says.\u201cThings picked up in the \u201930s and they became more stable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe has seen many changes over the years. What major change stands out?<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunication,\u201d he says. \u201cOne time you had to write a letter to a person in Australia that would take weeks to be delivered. And you\u2019d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

What wonderful memory stands out for Joe over his fulfilled lifetime?<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say being in the Taj Mahal,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe is fond of lofty heights, as a trip to Rome once proved.<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Davis and his children, Carl, Jean, and Ruth. Joe says: \u201cI am very lucky to have a great family who look after me”<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1961\/62, I walked into St Peter\u2019s 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!\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe wasn\u2019t one for a drink.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never drank much at all,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I was out with work or with friends for an occasion, I always drank a tonic water. Nobody knew what I was drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

One time he had a cold.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI was at a meeting where my colleague ordered a gin and tonic. I asked him for a tonic water. He said, \u2018For God\u2019s sake Joe, put a gin in it!\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Joe did.<\/p>\n

What was the result?<\/p>\n

\u201cI went home and said it to Pat,\u201d says Joe. \u201cShe was delighted and said that it would do me good! That it would relax me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

I tell him I am delighted to meet such a wonderful man with so much wisdom and wit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it was a real pleasure meeting you,\u201d says Joe as we bid farewell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you were born while the Irish Civil War was still raging, and you went to school at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[187774,79,14012,18,19,17,14013],"class_list":["post-490746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-echo-instagram","tag-business","tag-cork-nostalgia","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nostalgia"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116596149933779744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}