Remembering 1981: Four men dead as crisis escalates
• Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O Hara
Thursday, 21 May 1981, witnessed the deaths of two more Hunger Strikers. Raymond McCreesh passed away at 2.30am. Later that evening Patsy O’Hara died.
A Mass had been celebrated at Raymond McCreesh’s bedside on Wednesday evening by his brother Fr Brian McCreesh. He was semi-conscious and appeared to show some sign of recognition but died just a few hours later. His remains were returned to his beloved Camlough in South Armagh for the funeral the following Saturday.
Leaving the family home in St Malachy’s Terrace, the cortege stopped briefly at the lane outside the house where it was joined by a honour guard of IRA Volunteers, Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Éireann. Led by a lone piper, the cortege paused to allow Raymond McCreesh’s comrades fire a final salute over the Tricolour-draped coffin.
From County Down to downtown Manhattan, Jim Clerkin has moved around, and systematically up, in the world. After a career in the alcoholic beverage industry, he’s landed the top position in Moët Hennessy in North America. Now that he’s there, his goal is to help others do the same.
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Jim Clerkin has had a relationship with Hennessy since before he was born. His father’s drink was cognac and ginger ale. His brand – Hennessy. Clerkin remembers serving his father while working part-time at a friend’s bar in Rostrevor, where he grew up. It probably wasn’t the most unlikely of drinks, given that Hennessy was the first cognac to be imported to Ireland in the 19th century. But of all the kids in County Down whose fathers or mothers drank the same mix, Clerkin is the only one to head a division of the brand.