Man of stone ensures loved ones are well remembered

Not many businesses can claim to be five generations old but Fahy Memorials is one and Murt Fahy knows that he is leaving it in good hands.

Murt, who is the fourth generation to operate the family firm, has just retired though he admits he doesn’t know he’s stopped working yet because he has been in almost every day to cover breaks and holidays.

It’s harder too to retire from a family business as you can’t exactly walk away from the family and in Murt’s case, the camaraderie of his workmates (read mostly family) will be one of the things he will miss most about the job.

Murt wasn’t supposed to go into the family business – which is based in Woodquay and involved in making headstones and plaques. His father, Paddy, believed that the work was too hard, manually that is, and had high hopes for Martin (Murt’s Christian name). He insisted that his son go to college and so, Murt attended NUIG, known then as UCG, where he studied commerce for two years.

“I hated it. I much preferred rowing up the river. I was the eldest of five and I had a notion that I would end up in the family business and I hated the commerce so I didn’t put the work in.

“And when my father realised that, he accepted that I would come into the business, which I did and I have to say, I have loved every minute of it, though I do prefer to be out on the road, meeting people and installing headstones.”

None of his siblings, one brother and three sisters, went into the business, and Murt was quite happy to continue the family tradition, although he quickly adds that he wasn’t as skilled as his grandfather or father.

“My father was very skilled with his hands. I never had to handle a hammer and chisel. By the time I came into the business, the tools were pneumatic and computerised.

“In my grandfather’s time, it would have been all manual. He inscribed the Fr Griffin monument. My father was brilliant with stone, he was a natural.”

The company was originally located at the Fisheries Field and was known as Galway Granite Works until the Local Authority enticed them to relocated to Woodquay, which they did. It’s a tight space considering how busy that part of the Headford Road is and in light of the way the local area has grown around the shop and yard, but the company has thrived.

Most of the business is involved in headstones, granite, marble or limestone, much of it imported.

“I like working with granite but I have a ‘grá’ for limestone, probably because it is local. My father hated to see the imported stone. He much preferred to work in stone that was local and relevant to the area. He loved to see people ordering Celtic crosses because he thought they were more in keeping with Galway than other types of headstones,” says Murt.

He believes that if his father hadn’t been as busy running the family business and having to earn a living that he might well have gone down the artistic route, such was his skills with a hammer and chisel.Murt quickly adds that he isn’t a bit artistic himself!

His passion lies in sport, mainly horse racing, which he follows avidly year round, but he was also involved in the founding of a basketball club, the Galway Democrats, and he follows GAA and soccer, though in recent times he has stopped attending matches in Terryland.

“I stopped going to Terryland the day I was told I was in the wrong supporters’ queue at the grounds. One of the stewards informed me I was queuing up with the other team’s supporters. I couldn’t believe they were separating the home and away supporters in Galway, so I turned and left and I haven’t been back since.”

And of course, he is disappointed by Galway’s senior football and hurling teams this year but he continues to follow them wherever they are playing and rarely misses a match. When the GAA season ends, he follows Connacht rugby for the winter.

For more, read this week's Galway CIty Tribune.