(source : Vincent O'Neill)
St Augustine's College, Blacklion, 1966/67
(L-R) : Lawrence McFadden, Chris Wallbank WF, Owen Gormley and Gus Dery (RIP).
John Byrne writes (March 2008) :
" I remember Gus DERY well, God rest him. He was at Blacklion as a seminarianof his home diocese in Ghana.
As I recall his uncle was a local bishop. I had the pleasure of being in Blacklion village with him on a few
occasions, and I remember two amusing incidents. At the time there was
a practice in Irish schools to collect
'pennies for the black babies.' I was embarrassed and amused when one little girl
asked Gus if he had been
a black baby. True to form, he smiled as only he could and said "yes." Another lad shook hands with Gus,
and then looked at his own hand to see if the 'black' had come off on to it! "
Maurice Billingsley writes (March 2008) in relation to the above photo :
" This is Gus Dery from Ghana - I sent you a picture of him at Totteridge; all smiles as usual.
His uncle is Cardinal Dery, elevated by Papa Ratzinger, retired Archbishop of Tamale, N Ghana.
Gus was consellor, confidante, mentor of clergy in N Ghana, well beloved. "
Robbie Dempsey writes (March 2008) :
" You have Gus in your listings already. A curious link is that I met this lady a couple of years ago
in Templeoguewho had lodgers, Gus Derry and Martin Whillis ( and a third ) at her house during
the Foot and Mouth quarantine in the winter of 1967 that I mention in that intro to the Blacklion Pantomime.
Paul West (exits, stage left) :
" We already had a close-up photo of Gus Dery on Page 293 of the GALLERY . Sorry! "
Return to Top
