Mention the name Dermot Collins to anyone in Kilkeel and they will likely reply: “Dermot Collins? He had a barber’s shop here for as long as I remember. An absolute gentleman.”
For more than five decades, in fact, Dermot kept the men of the town in short back and sides from his little shop on Harbour Road, with some lifelong customers continuing to come to his home for their monthly trims in retirement.
But what many did not realise was that this was only one part of Dermot’s very busy life.
A footballer with Ballymartin GAC until injury ended his playing career, he became a popular referee at club and county level, taking charge of the Down senior football final in 1979, as well as lending his expertise as a referees’ assessor.
He loved bowling and was a founder member of the Marina bowling club in Annalong and its chairman for many years.
He was a golfer too, playing out of the Kilkeel club, and for 60 years was a member of the same cards group.
Dermot was also a talented carpenter and joiner, on occasion even using his little spare time to fit built-in wardrobes in the days before they were in vogue.
Fr Sean Dillon, at his funeral Mass in St Colman’s Church, Massforth, said he was a man who loved his family, was loved in turn, and who “lived life, who didn’t hide away”.
Dermot was born in 1940 opposite Ballymartin GAA pitch on Pat’s Road, notable for all of its residents being part of the wider Collins clan.
It led down to the beach and fishing went back in the family for generations. His father Joe was among a group of trawlermen whose boats were blown up by a German U-Boat which had ordered the men on deck in a famous incident in 1918.
In the 1970s, when the fashion for long hair hit barbers’ takings, Dermot would supplement his income by going out fishing for herring each October on a 30-foot skiff bought with a friend. He loved being on the sea and was conscious of the strong local tradition.
One of six children, he remembered as a young boy watching US soldiers from Cranfield air base training for the Normandy landings on the nearby beach, and stopping to offer him chewing gum when passing.
He would later joke that during those years of rationing and food scarcity he had to resort to eating lobster, crabs and salmon along with fresh potatoes, such was the local bounty.
Dermot was trained as a barber by a man called Mickey Joe Rogers, who duly followed the tradition of passing on the business to the next man coming through.
After a couple of years in his late teens working to help bring electricity to Scottish islands, he settled back in Kilkeel and continued cutting hair full-time until the age of 76 in 2017.
For his many loyal customers, they warmly remember his witty personality and smiling face. Dermot loved stories and always had a joke to tell.
He was also a man of knowledge – he did the Irish News and Mirror crosswords every day for decades.
At home, too, he never lost his temper or had a bad word to say about anyone. He was a gentleman in the true sense of the word.
He was married in 1967 to Mary, a skilled maker of Aran knitwear in a factory in Kilkeel, and they were inseparable over the next 56 years.
She died last December after several years living with dementia, with Dermot tending faithfully to her for hours each day at Brooklands nursing home in Kilkeel. Following her death, he visited her grave every day.
In retirement he enjoyed spending time at the Kingdom Men’s Shed, whose members ensured he could still travel to meetings following a debilitating fall last year.
He also derived enormous happiness from his grandchildren and particularly his great-grandchildren, Grace and Annie. His face would simply light up when they arrived.
Dermot Collins was 84 when he died at his home on September 27, surrounded by his loving family.
Predeceased by his wife Mary, brother Jack and sister Nora, he is survived and sadly missed by his children Patricia, Aidan, Lisa and Barry, his grandchildren, great-grandchildren and siblings Brian, Jim and Sally.
