Remembering Athy's Noel Kavanagh
The late Dr Noel Kavanagh Photo courtesy of Carlow College
AS the congregation rose to applaud the life of Athy’s Noel Kavanagh the procession slowly moved down the aisle in St Michaels Parish church, shouldered by six women from his beloved Crossfit Gym, the words of Willy Nelson’s came to mind ‘When the battle stopped and the smoke cleared, there was thunder from the throne, and seven Spanish Angels, took another angel home’.
The battle was over and Noel had fought cancer hard, looked it in the face and refused to go gentle into the good night.
He had continued to work as a Doctor of Philosophy at St Patricks College in Carlow right up to the last few weeks; he attended the gym as often as his body would allow and never once did, I hear him complain, always welcoming, always the open door, always the kind word.
Fr Bill Kemmy, a school friend of Noel and parish priest of Rathangan, officiated at the mass and the several hundred people who attended heard him speak about his friend with great affection and admiration.
“It was all about love,” Fr Bill said. Noel’s PhD thesis on ‘The Philosophy of Love’ earned him the moniker Doctor Love, his work on the philosophy of love was accessible and innovative, being one of the foremost voices in Ireland on philosophy, he ran workshops for secondary school students introducing them to philosophy in a new and interesting way; and lobbying for the introduction of philosophy as a core subject in Irish schools.
Dave Morgan and Paul Webster delivered heartfelt and personal eulogies for the man who had so deeply impacted their lives. Among the huge attendance were many of Noel’s students and former students, a number of them following in his, Oxblood Loake shoes, footsteps and introducing philosophy to the next generation, Lux transiit (the torch passed on). Earlier in the day, the hearse from Rigney’s funeral home was outridden through the town by members of the Vespa scooter club, a group that was very special to Noel.
We worked together on a number of plays in the Athy Arts Centre, and , so convincing was Noel’s performance in as the lothario Teddy Heelin, that on opening night a woman in the front row of the audience banged on the stage and shouted ‘Ya dirty sleazy aul man, is one not enough for ya?’, it brought the house down but it didn’t throw him and Noel carried on as if nothing had happened.
But it was his performance as Gerry Evans when he played opposite Pamela Harpur as Chrissie Mundy in Brian Friel’s that will live long in my memory, as my friend, gave one of the most beautiful, measured and tender performances I have ever witnessed on stage.
Noel’s coffin was carried from the church by Karen Foley, Margaret Watson, Debs Aungier, Kiera Geoghegan, Lorraine O’Brien and Charmain Fitzgeald before his final earthly journey to Mount Jerome Cemetery.
The Victorian chapel was full to capacity for the final tributes from David Mulhall and Dave Walsh and prayers led by Fr Bill. As The Specials pumped out the Mod anthem; and the curtains slowly closed Doctor Noel Kavanagh, philosopher, teacher, mod, style icon, Northern Soul dancer, actor, trumpeter, athlete, husband, uncle, son and friend left the stage.
My sympathies to Noel’s loving wife Kate, mother Nuala, father Bill, sister Caroline, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews Keith, Kayleigh, Caoimhe and Oisín, Limerick cousins, colleagues in Carlow College, St. Patrick's, relatives, students and a wide circle of friends.
