Obituaries 165

Irish Railway Record Society

Obituary

CHRISTOPHER MAHER 1937-2007

The death occurred on 14 September 2007 of Christy Maher, a long-standing member of the Society. Christy was born in Tralee in May 1937 where his father was a railwayman and lived at 1248 Railway Terrace. Following his education at the local Christian Brothers in Edward St and Moyderwell Technical School, he joined the Hotels Department of CIE in 1954 as a junior catering attendant. At that time selected attendants were sent to the Swiss and German railways for training and Christy was soon to find himself on European long-distance expresses. He was one of the first catering staff on CIE’s River Shannon cruisers.

I first met Christy about 1957, when he was working on the Radio Train to Killarney. I often assisted him and his colleagues setting the 484 places for the ‘High Tea’ on the return journey to Dublin, being rewarded with a handful of the long since withdrawn Jacob’s Kerry Cream biscuits. In addition to working the main scheduled services, Christy was promoted to head attendant early in his career in 1958. He regularly worked on both the Executive train and also the Presidential train on which he attended no less than five presidents of Ireland, de Valera, Childers, Ó’Dálaigh, Hillery and Robinson. He had the honour of being invited by President de Valera to a private party at Áras an Uachtaráin. When Queen Margrethe II of Denmark was travelling by train on her official visit to Ireland, Christy was her Head Attendant. I had the privilege of working with Christy on several journeys undertaken by former President Mary Robinson.

Christy was a regular participant on SOCIETY outings and European tours. Sadly, he took ill shortly before he was due to depart on a railtour from Moscow to Shanghai and died while his friends were abroad. We extend our sympathy to his wife, Joan, stepchildren Eoin, Aidan and Kenneth, and his grandchildren.