Obituary Joseph A. (Joe) Gormley Born – August 3, 1936 Died - Morning of May 17, 2015 at Antrim Area Hospital
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oe Gormley was the third child of Brian and Rosella (McKenna), Desertmartin, County Derry. Joe enjoyed a healthy early life around Desertmartin, which included helping his father with the work of a Publican, Undertaker, and tending their farmland. Early on Joe displayed considerable skill and passion for GAA football with his local St. Martin’s Desertmartin GAC, going on to successfully help them win their only Derry Senior Football Club Championship, at the tender age of 17. Joe schooled in Saint Columbs, Derry, later returning home to work, and marry Bridie Mullan. In 1960, Joe and Bridie started their married life in Maghera. Joe continued the work of his mother (Ella McKenna), developing and running the Railway Bar, later adding the Hideout Lounge, something Joe was particularly proud of. Joe continued the family tradition by becoming the fourth generation of the family’s Gormley Funeral Undertaking Business. Service to the community would remain his main life focus. Caring has the gift of making the ordinary special. Through the sixties, Joe and Bridie had four boys: Bernard, Donal, Michael and Enda. Joe combined his dual passion of community and business by contributing generously with his time to, amongst other things, the local Round Table Association, Swatragh CoOp Committee, Maghera business development groups, and also served as a member of the Board of Governors for Saint Patrick’s College, Maghera. Positivity was the order of Joe’s day and so it remained until the end. To describe Joe in a few words is difficult, for he was told much, knew plenty, and shared only that which was safe and true. As a Funeral Director, Joe was well aware not to take life too seriously because he was acutely aware that he would never get out of it alive. Perhaps the biggest compliment to Joe would be his understanding of Life. Joe fully grasped from a very early age that Legacy was not what’s left tomorrow when you are gone - it’s what you give, create, and contribute today, while you are here, that then lives on.
Joe Gormley (1936 – 2015)