Colourful, complicated and contrary, Co Mayo islander Christy Henry, who drowned when his car veered into a lake at the weekend, was by all accounts “Mr Inishbiggle”.
Aged 61, he was one of the “young bucks” on this tiny inshore island which was once a Protestant enclave of the famous evangelical colony established in the mid-1800s in Achill by Rev Edward Nangle.
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Situated between Achill to the north and the vast mainland bog lands of Erris near the village of Ballycroy, ‘Biggle’s dwindling population of some 16 elderly residents was dealt a major blow as news of the tragedy filtered from one isolated house to another late on Friday evening.
These days the island has neither a shop nor a school with the eleventh-hour cancellation in 2004 of a government-funded cable-car service a huge setback to the future sustainability of this community.
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Still reeling from the shock on Sunday, Henry’s good friend, and occasional foe, Jeremy Holt, tells The Irish Times how Christy, “like his father before him, was a great ambassador for the island.”
Whether that was for the protracted campaign for the cable-car or the rededication of the Protestant church for ecumenical use, they were at the forefront lobbying politicians and public representatives, Holt recalls.
It was also a great source of pride for Christy that his late father, Paddy was the teacher on the island in a school-building which had originally been donated by his grandfather in the early 1900s for the education of the Catholic population.
“This is such a tragedy and a loss. He took everyone who came to the island under his wing and was very helpful, even when he was being opinionated. Both himself and his mother Bridget were brilliant repositories of the island folklore and heritage. That’s all gone now with his death,” observes Holt.
He also recalls drolly how Christy featured in an RTÉ documentary in 1989 about emigration called The Parting.
“They filmed him heading off to Knock airport in his Aran sweater to find his fortune but sure he was back home within a few weeks happily picking winkles on the shore,” Holt says with a tinge of sadness.
He adds that Henry was very proud of the island’s Protestant heritage too. As he was also of the annual August Bank Holiday Inishbiggle Festival – a jamboree of carousing, ceol agus craic, currach racing and fishing – co-ordinated by him.
“It was the one event in the year when hundreds of people came back to the island from outside. It just gave the islanders a tremendous lift and was like a big reunion of people who had roots there,” says Fr Chris Ginnelly, the PP of Ballycroy and the island.
“Christy was such a character and despite being complex, he was so kind and caring to both his parents when they were alive. The entire island, as well as communities along this part of the Mayo coastline, are in total shock. His death is another nail in the coffin of the island’s story.”
Ironic words insofar as when The Irish Times visited the island in early August, as part of its Ireland’s Islands series, it was Christy Henry who observed: “We are just waiting for the island to die.”
The funeral Mass for Christy Henry will be held in the Church of the Holy Family, Ballycroy, at 12 noon on Wednesday, October 11th, with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. He is survived by his siblings Mary and PJ who live in London and Foxford. His parents Paddy and Bridget and brother James predeceased him.