Athlone man gets theatre seat in his name as he celebrates 90th birthday

Athlone's Dean Crowe Theatre has played a very pivotal role in the life of a local man who celebrated his 90th birthday last week – right back to the day of his baptism!

George Behan reckons he is one of just a handful of people still living in the town who had the honour of being baptised in a small church which stood on the site of what is now the town's Dean Crowe Theatre, before it was replaced by the current Ss Peter & Paul parish church in 1937.

His arrival into the world on June 25, 1935, on nearby Lyster Street, meant that he was always destined to follow in the footsteps of his siblings by being baptised in the little church which was “just across the road.”

Although he doesn't remember anything about the actual baptism, or indeed much about the church itself, he did go on to have a long association with the subsequent Dean Crowe Theatre through his involvement with the CIE 'Tops of the Town' variety group.

“Tops brought huge crowds to the theatre, it was packed to the rafters every night,” he recalls. "It's hard to imagine now how popular it was, but practically every organisation and factory had their own group, and there was a great sense of rivalty and excitement.”

In honour of his baptism, and to mark his 90th birthday, George Behan's family came up with the novel idea of purchasing a seat in the Dean Crowe Theatre for their father.

The seat now bears a plaque with his name inscribed on it to ensure that his name is immortalised in the annals of Dean Crowe folklore.

The nonagenarian says he is “very proud” to have his own seat in Athlone's theatre, and was very chuffed when his family brought him to the theatre for his birthday and unveiled their surprise present.

“It's a great honour and I'm very grateful,” he said.

George was the second youngest of George and Elizabeth (nee McKiernan from Coosan) Behan's family of five, all of whom are now deceased.

Two of his siblings died tragically, Philomena, who was the youngest, passed away from burns sustained when she was scalded by a kettle of boiling water at just two years old, and Jack died when he was 21 from pneumonia, which was an incurable illness at the time. Nancy and Leo have also passed away.

As a 15-year-old teenager, he joined CIE holding down various jobs, including as a train driver on all the routes emanating from Athlone.

“There was lots of shift work as all the freight trains went at night, but it was a good job and I spent 50 good years there.”

Seven years after joining CIE, love beckoned for George when he met a Louth woman at a local dancehall who had come to Athlone with her sister to work in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel. Rita Sarsfield was just 21 and within what George describes as “a fairly short time” the young couple were married and set up home on Chapel Street.

Three children followed, Raymond, Joan and Rhona, but tragedy struck the happy family when Rita was diagnosed with cancer, eventually losing her battle for life in her early 50s.

“It was a big blow but I had to carry on and rear the children,” recalls George. “I don't know how I did it, but I had to cope because I had no other option.”

Most people would count themselves lucky to find love once in their lives, but Cupid struck twice for George Behan when he met a lady from Moate called Paula Whelan who became his second wife.

After the devastasting loss of his first wife, he had “no intention” of getting married again, he says, but fate has a funny way of intervening and he met his second wife through his job as a train driver.

“She used to get on the train in Moate with her mother fairly regularly to go on days out to Dublin and other places, and we got chatting and that was it.”

George remarried in 1988 and moved to Lanesboro where he and Paula lived up to three years ago when she passed away very unexpectedly within two days of contracting sepsis at the age of 71.

Now back living in Athlone with his daughter, Joan, in Ashley Crescent, George Behan's ever-present companion is his beloved King Charles spaniel, Alfie.

“I have had dogs in my life ever since I was a child and I wouldn't part with Alfie for all the money in the world, I'd be lost without him,” he says.

Blessed with great health and a razor-sharp memory, George has seen many changes in Athlone over the past nine decades.

“I'm old enough to remember the two-day January Fair in the town with one day dedicated to horses and the other to cattle and you couldn't get either up or down Connuaght Street, Church Street or any other street with the amount of cattle and horses outside the shops.”

With his uncle Paddy being a successful playwright and his late Dad, George, a member of the 'Blue Crotchets' dance band, music and drama played a big part in George Behan's life, so its small wonder that his own daughter, Joan, has been a lifelong stalwart of Athlone Musical Society, immersing herself in every aspect of the local musical scene over many years.

As a keen angler, an active member of Coosan Angling Club and manager of the Irish Fly Fishing team, George took a job with the Irish Fisheries international organisation after his retirement from CIE.

He worked there for nine years travelling around Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales to various competitions, and he has also travelled further afield in recent years, including to Australia and Florida.

As he heads into his 91st year, George Behan says his only regret in life is ever taking up smoking.

“When I was going to the cinema as a young lad Humphrey Bogart was on the screen with a cigarette hanging off his lip and there was at least 40 girls in the queue dying to get in to see him, so all the lads thought if we started smoking the women would queue up for us,” he jokes, “but it never happened.”

George ditched the smoking habit over 30 years ago, but when he reflects on his long life he says most people of his generation were “reared in ignorance” at a time when everyone “lived in fear of the priests and nuns” and religion dictated ever aspect of life.

“I always think one of the most accurate jokes ever is the one that Brendan Grace used to tell about the young lad who said he never ate a head of cabbage until he was 17 years old in case he would eat a baby inside the cabbage leaves,” laughs George.

"That was us he was talking about.”