My father has died suddenly and unexpectedly

This is for anyone who knew him

I don't talk about much personal stuff here, but I want to make sure everybody who should hear this news hears it in time, and I can’t comb through 7,500 email addresses looking for individual names of people who knew him.

My father, Richard (Dick) Gough has died suddenly, and unexpectedly, at home (in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary). He ate lunch with the love of his life, my mother Betty, and died before he could have his dessert. (Custard.) He was healthy as a horse, despite his advanced years, so this is a tremendous shock to all of us. Only upside: he went exactly the way he always said he wanted to: “Out like a light. I don’t want to hang around.”

He was a terrific guy, and a great father. I loved him, and I'm going to miss him.

My dad, Richard Gough, with a python he had just killed with a fire axe as it crossed the runway of Changi Airport in Singapore in the 1950s. He got a guy in town to turn it into belts and wallets for him and his friends; my daughter Sophie still wears dad’s (by now slightly scruffy) python belt sometimes, nearly seventy years later.

His funeral details:

Reposing on Thursday, February 29th, at Keller's Funeral Home, Nenagh (E45 XO94), from 5pm until 7pm. Funeral arriving on Friday to St. Mary of the Rosary Church, Nenagh (E45 YH29), for Funeral Mass at 11 am, followed by burial in St. Patrick's Rock Burial Ground, Cashel, arriving at 2.15 approx. Dick's Funeral Mass can be viewed on

http://nenaghparish.ie

For people that don’t know my dad or Nenagh, or Cashel, but are curious: Yes, that’s the same church Shane McGowan’s funeral was recently held in. It’s our local (as it was Shane’s). Yes, dad is being buried on the Rock of Cashel, where his mother, grandmother, great-grandfather et al are buried. If you are coming, dress warm and wear sturdy, waterproof shoes, it’s going to be wet and windy up there.

He was a hell of a guy.

Ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís.

Further information, condolences, etc, here:

https://rip.ie/death-notice/richard-dick-gough-tipperary-nenagh-547893

Now, go talk to someone you love. Remember that it can all blow away in a moment – it will all blow away in a moment, for every relationship you have, and you have no idea when that moment will be – and you will never get a chance to speak to them again. N. E. V. E. R. Don’t leave the stuff that matters unsaid; or unheard.

Peace and love.