Glenasmole Hills inspires Pat to write book on his dad’s stories

GLENASMOLE native Pat Lee earlier this week launched a new book containing the writings of his father, John Lee, writes Ryan Butler.

John Gerard Lee (1906–1982) was also from Glenasmole and was a talented short story writer and poet who collected many items of local interest.

He was a founder of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart, Bohernabreena, and first wrote in its books in September 1927, remaining quite active in countless local organisations and making great contributions to the quality of life in Glenasmole right up until his passing.

John was notably featured on the front page of The Echo on January 22, 1982, which consisted of an obituary honouring his memory and legacy.

Further reading can lead one to an example of his work that was printed in the same edition, a poem titled ‘The Glenasmole Hills’, a title that serves as the inspiration for the book by his son, Pat.

Pat stated in an interview with The Echo that when he inherited the family home and found John’s writings in his favourite press and read his feature in The Echo, he felt there was a “chapter not complete” and that he was obliged to publish the writings, which he did in association with his colleagues Jeanette O’Toole and Liam Kilbride.

Pat Lee, Jeanette O’ Toole and Liam Kilbride

They accomplished this by sorting through “hundreds and hundreds” of documents and filing as many as they could into ‘My Glenasmole Hills’.

Over the past two years, Pat, Jeanette, and Liam looked over John’s work and did research into the impact that it made on Glenasmole Valley and helped to shape it into the “beautiful” valley it is today.

Pat believes that a second book may be possible, pointing out that although they tried to include the best of John’s work into the first book, it was “impossible” to fit all of it into one book, so there are still hundreds of documents left over to use for a second book.

He would like to thank Jeanette and Liam for their help with compiling John’s writings into the book, which he self-published and is keeping at a reasonable price.

‘My Glenasmole Hills’ was launched in the Glenasmole Community Centre earlier this week.