Appreciation
Marie Feehan
Warm, kind, honest, genuine, calm, commonsensical, dependable – just some of the words that describe our dear friend and colleague Marie Feehan, who died on Saturday February 13th.
Hailing from Corlough, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, Marie set out on her ESB journey in 1972, after a short stint with Dublin Corporation. She joined as an Office Assistant and rose through the Administrative ranks. She made highly-valued contributions in then Generation Department, the Industrial Council, Group HR and finally, for an all too short period, HR Shared Services. While in the Industrial Council, she completed her BA in Industrial Relations & Personnel Management, gaining insights and skills that she later put to good use in her HR and project roles.
Her true worth as a colleague and friend was well known to many of us and can be readily recognised in the tributes paid to her in recent days by those with whom she worked closest during her working life – her loyal, efficient support for the Industrial Council Chairman and members, the discretion, commitment and effectiveness she demonstrated in her work in Group HR, her diligence in helping to bring the ESOP into existence (it simply would never have got off the ground without her) and her helpfulness towards so many others across ESB. We were even grateful for that hugely effective critique she occasionally brought to bear on some of our plans and that kept us all suitably grounded: the distinctive, silent look that inquired as to whether we were, after all, mad!
Marie was genuinely interested in people and was always available to listen and give advice where and when needed. She was very active, loved travelling, walking and cycling. She and her beloved husband, Ciaran, put us all to shame when it came to active summer holidays - hiking the Camino de Santiago, cycling in Spain, camping out in the Desert. Marie was also an avid reader and very active member of her Book Club.
Our lives are the richer for having known her and we will all miss her greatly. Our thoughts are in particular with Ciaran (whose own appreciation appears below), her mother, sisters, brothers and family.
May she rest in peace.
Continuance
For Marie Feehan
(15-12-1953 to 13-2-2010)
You stand at my grave and weep,
you think me asleep.
You mourn the loss of my song,
it didn’t last long.
You dwell on what might have been
and feel the loss keen,
But my darling do not sigh,
I did not die.
When you walk in the sea-front air,
I will be there.
When you look to the waves from the strand,
I’ll be at hand.
I will prompt you once in a while
to think of my smile
and place a mysterious feather,
on your jacket of leather.
So on long nights when tempted to cry
remember, I did not die.
What’s between is less than a tissue,
forever, I’m with you.
by Ciaran Barry
