100 year old reflects on friendship with Christy Ring and marrying 'a Cork beauty!’

‘If you should live to a hundred and five, look at all you’ll derive out of being alive’, sang Sinatra in the song Young At Heart.

Eddie Hogan, who celebrated his 100th birthday recently, has certainly derived much happiness out of life, having plenty of time to live, to laugh, and to love. He is steadfastly young at heart.

Eddie, who married the love of his life, Bríd, “the most beautiful woman in Cork”, was always first and foremost a family man. The couple had three sons, John, Eamon, and Paschal, and two daughters, Mary and Rosaire.

“First came family, then came sport, then came music,” says Eddie, sitting in his comfy armchair at his house in Ballincollig, surrounded by birthday cards, precious mementos and beautiful gifts for his 100th birthday on August 13.

Eddie, lucky in love and lucky in life, had the best job in the world.

I got to travel every day to Waterford with the most famous man in Ireland, Christy Ring! I had the best job in the world!

The Cork men formed a solid bond of friendship working as delivery drivers for Shell. “We became best friends,” says Eddie.

They loved trucking along in their wagon. “Christy carried a hurley and a slioter everywhere,” recalls Eddie.

“Days before a big match, he would ask my opinion of the Cork team that was picked.”

Eddie knew the man as well as the legend.

“I met Christy in 1938, and our friendship was cemented by a six- year spell, 1950-1956, when we worked together on a delivery truck for the oil company Shell.”

Eddie was a loyal friend.

“I remember cycling to Munster finals during World War II,” says Eddie. “It was all worth it to watch Ring.

“My late brother Paddy won a minor All-Ireland medal alongside him in 1938,” adds Eddie, pointing to the Cork team photograph on his wall depicting that great victory.

Christy and I had a lot in common. He was four years older than me, but we shared a wonderful friendship.

Eddie, with great recall, whose life was soaked in glorious moments, recalls how he met the love of his life.

In 1940, he was the Cork GAA fastest runner under 16 in the juvenile division, and he had to act fast to land Bríd!

He sets the scene.

“I was on holiday in Youghal in 1950 with a bunch of Glen Rovers lads. “I remember the holiday cost me 17 pounds and 6 pence for the week. Bríd passed by on a bus and she saw me. She asked another passenger on the bus, Dan Twomey, who we both knew, ‘Who was that blondie fellow sitting down there in front of the lighthouse’?” Bríd had spotted her future husband.

“Dan was having a party on Friday night, and he told Bríd that he would invite me along so we could meet.”

Time was of the essence.

“That was on the Friday, and I was going home on the Sunday.”

The pair clicked straight away.

“It was love at first sight,” says Eddie. 

Bríd was the most beautiful woman in Cork.

Bríd, from Greenmount, Cork, was smitten too, but did have one stipulation before she accepted a date.

“We were meeting outside the GPO to go to the cinema,” says Eddie. “Bríd said she’d go out with me only if I didn’t drink.”

Eddie didn’t. And he never did.

“I never drank or smoked,” says Eddie. “At 100 years old, I have abstained from drink for 86 years.”

That’s quite something.

“I am the oldest living pioneer in Ireland,” says Eddie proudly. “Maybe that’s why I lived to see 100!”

And maybe because he had a happy marriage?

“Bríd and I had 48 happy years together,” says Eddie. “She was a marvellous wife and a wonderful mother. We reared a wonderful family together living near The Lough off the Wilton Road. We had five gorgeous children. The girls were the best-dressed girls around. Bríd was a gifted seamstress. Our daughter Rosaire inherited that gift.”

Theirs was a match made in heaven.

“We showered each other with love,” says Eddie. 

I told Bríd every day that I loved her. She passed away in October, 2004, age 77. I miss her every day.

One day, in January, 2020, Eddie nearly lost his life.

“I had a life-saving operation when my thyroid was removed after feeling very unwell. I was four hours on the operating table.

“The Australian lady doctor told me I was in the right place at the right time. ‘You are a very lucky man, Mr Hogan’ she said. You could have died.’

“It was 10 days before I got my sight back. My metabolism was affected, and I put on a lot of weight. It took 10 years to solve.”

Eddie indulged in another of his life-long passions in the meantime.

“I loved to sing, and I got into pantomime and drama. In one panto I played the baron in Sleeping Beauty. I was the youngest-ever baron in panto in Cork!”

Eddie had a presence, and he had a voice.

“I spent a number of years - decades - singing in choral choirs, among them St Augustine’s choir working with the brilliant Joe Holly, musician and conductor.

“I was the proud recipient of the Papal Gold Medal from John Paul II to mark my long choral career,” says Eddie. “That was a really important honour, and it wasn’t given out willy-nilly.”

Eddie opens the velvet box with the treasure inside. It is a beautiful piece to treasure forever. “Very few people are awarded that medal,” he says.

Eddie, a talented man indeed, was one of the founder members of the Gramophone Circle in Cork, organising and giving recitals in Cork city, Tallow and Dungarvan.

My programme consisted of songs, ballads, opera, choral, and light instrumental pieces. I’m not boasting, but I was in big demand!

“Pre-Covid, I went into nursing homes to play music and songs for the residents there.

“I liked going to Oaklodge Nursing home in particular, and made good friends with Diarmuid, the owner. I played my music and CD selection. The sessions cheered everybody up at the nursing home.

“They would always say to me, ‘Come again next week’ I visited Oaklodge. Mount Desert, and other nursing homes in Cork once a month. I loved every minute of it.”

Family man Eddie has 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

“My eldest grandson Eamon Murphy looks after me. He works in the sports department with the Echo.”

Eddie is still being mothered.

“My daughters are really caring to me,” he says. “Mary is like a mother hen! She mothers me as soon as she arrives here!”

Did the postman arrive with the all-important check for €2,540, the Centenarian Bounty from President Higgins?

“He sure did,” says Eddie, passing me the framed congratulatory letter from Michael D and accompanying cheque to mark the amazing milestone in Eddie’s life.

What will he spend the money on? After all, he had two parties for his 100th birthday!

Eddie laughs.

“I am putting the money towards a new boiler. My boiler packed up. With the cheque and the grant, I’ll be able to get a new one installed.”

What does this 100-year-old Eddie, who has lived a charmed life, put his good health and spirits down to?

“I lived a clean, healthy life,” says Eddie. “I never drank or smoked.”

He liked his grub though.

I ate all sensible food. My favourite dinner is corned beef and cabbage and spuds. Or bacon, cabbage and spuds.

Eddie still likes to have a bit of fun and banter. “Isn’t that what life is all about?” he says.

I think maybe it was Bríd who got lucky being in the right place at the right time?

“Well, she did spot me first,” laughs Eddie. “Maybe I was a bit of alright!”