Bashful, unassuming, a humble kind of man. A man who shirks the limelight and wouldn't want any fuss or praise, pomp and circumstance, despite a 10-year record as the top man in primary education.
Who is this man? Well it's Senator Joe O'Toole actually.
The INTO decided not to tell their modest outgoing general secretary a "tribute" was planned to mark his final days as captain at the helm of the mighty INTO ship until late last week. They hoped, as one INTO officer said: "He wouldn't be too awkward about the whole thing."
In the end, despite his protestations, the senator accepted his fate gracefully. "It was my firm belief that we had come here to bury Joe O'Toole not to praise him, but unfortunately I've been overruled, and for the greater good of the organisation I see why," he said.
He apologised to the delegates for what they were about to endure: "A rose-tinted presentation of a Joe O'Toole neither you nor I know to exist." Before taking his seat he finally advised the assembled: "Let's just try to ignore it and try not to snigger."
There followed a little sniggering, but plenty of warm laughter as the friends and colleagues of Senator O'Toole gave their account of the great man over the next two hours.
First up was incoming general secretary Mr John Carr who described Senator O'Toole as a renaissance man with a breath of aesthetic and social vision. Invoking Shakespeare he said: "Joe is a colossus bestriding the waves of Irish education."
Further quotes followed from de Valera, Yeats, Jonathan Swift and even the Bible to celebrate Senator O'Toole's 35 years of active service in the INTO.
Sadness did not cloud his fare well, said Mr Carr but "a modest pride and sense of excellence achieved in many fields".
A fond tribute from one of the senator's oldest friends and long-time colleague, Mr Dónal Ó Loinsigh, was accompanied by the O'Toole photo display, which took the delegates from his stint in the FCA, to his days at St Pat's, his early union times, right up to the present where he was shown sitting astride the rocking horse that still stands in his old primary school. No doubt it will come in handy as he rides off into the sunset of his union presidency, and prepares to battle to retain his senate seat.
Education Ministers Dr Woods and Mr Martin McGuinness were among the many others who paid tribute to the man who will obviously be much missed. Senator O'Toole thanked his wife and family for their support over the years, before turning to his colleagues: "It was very nice but an awful waste of congress time," he said.
