Madam, - The death of Seán Mac Réamoinn has been fittingly mourned by so many of the great and the good, the dignitaries of church and state - "maithe agus mór-uaisle na tíre". It brings me back to the days of the young, brilliant Seán I knew in the Galway of the 1940s.
He was next-door neighbour to Elsie and myself, first year arts students, in Woodquay, where he lived with his parents. Already a BA in languages, he was then working on an MA and, to our delight and astonishment, he included us in the company of his friends Johnny Horan, Wally Lee and Pádraic O'Reilly in an intellectual ambiance that to us girls, fresh from convent schools, was novel, heady and stimulating.
Seán was extraordinarily handsome - a slim, boyish, black-haired, brown-eyed, smiling young man - but it was his breadth of knowledge, his fluency in French and Irish, which he loved, his engaging conversation, and his great kindness to us that we valued above all, and that we were to remember. That we were all involved in the Taibhdhearc drama productions added to the magic of those far-off days.
Seán went his way, writing in my autograph book "Tá Connacht molta dá mbéinnse im 'thost" and we knew he would make waves in the cultural world of the arts.
It was a great privilege to have known him, and experienced his wonderful company and generosity of character. Leaba imeasc na naomh go raibh ag a anam uasal. - Yours, etc,
VERA HUGHES,
Moate,
Co Westmeath.