Smith family delighted with memorial park

The Con A. Smith Memorial Park on Cathedral Road in Cavan town has been the centre piece of the county capital"s recreational activities for many years especially for young children and more recently adults. It was a happy occasion on Wednesday last when members of the Smith family, who donated the park to the people of Cavan, were on hand to witness it being utilised by both young and old alike. Con P. Smith donated the land to commemorate his late son Con A Smith who died tragically at the tender age of 43 in the Staines, London, air crash on June 18, 1972. Gemma Smith-Maughan, wife of Con A. Smith; her daughter Alba; and Con A"s sister Maura Mulcahy were delighted to see the way the park had been developed in recent years. What impressed them most was the play area for children, the keep fit section for adults and the walks. They were thrilled to see the park being put to such great use by the local residents. Although Maura has been down to see the park previously, Gemma and Alba were paying their first visit. Both of them, however, regretted never visiting the park before this. They admitted they had been down to visit the graves of Con P and Con A in Upper Lavey but never ventured down to Cavan town. 'We are delighted to have remedied that fact now,' they declared. Gemma said: 'We don"t have anything like this in Dublin and it marvellous to see it. I"m delighted that both young and old avail of the facilities in the park. Cavan is far ahead of Dublin in this regard. It is a pity that more of these parks are not created around the country.' Joining them on their visit the Cavan town was the Mayor Paddy O"Reilly and fellow councillor Paddy Conaty. Cllr. O"Reilly paid tribute to the Smith family for donating the park to the citizens of Cavan. 'It was a tremendous gesture on their behalf and one that is appreciated by everyone in the town and surrounding areas. A park like this had been missing from the town for far too long and I"m delighted that Cavan County Council and Town Council have worked together in developing the project.' He also announced that the park will be officially opened at the end of May when the entire Smith family will be invited for the occasion. A plaque will be unveiled to honour the family, he added. Con P. Smith was born in 1905 and went to school in Stravicnabo and later Knocknagilla NS and later to Saint Patrick"s College, Cavan town. Between 1920 and "21 he worked with his brother Jack in a small garage in Virginia before establishing his own garage in Mullagh in 1923. It was there he met his wife Anna and their first child Con was born. Later in 1930, he bought the site of an old saw mills on the Dublin Road in Cavan town for £300, where he build another garage and two houses. A year later he became the main Austin dealer. In 1939, there were no cars as it was wartime, so he moved into reconditioning Ferguson tractors and became an auctioneer. He purchased Providers Ltd., with his brother Jack and two friends Pat Gaffney and Michael Galligan, in 1946, and it was later sold to Quinsworth in the 1980s and today it is Tesco. Ever the entrepreneur, Con then bought the Termann Hotel near Drogheda from Bord Fáilte and in 1954 he sold the hotel to the American Kellog Foundation, as a headquarters for the ICA. Despite his success, Con P never forgot his Cavan roots and was involved in the Cavan Association in Dublin and made strenuous efforts during the 1960s to secure industry for his native county, including the processing of instant potatoes. He also kept in touch with his home parish of Lavey and supported a number of ventures there. In later years he became deeply involved in charity work and in particularly the Royal Hospital in Donnybrook, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society and the Mental Health Association. Con A. Smith was born on October 29, 1928, and following his education at Terenure College and University College Dublin, where he studied architecture, Con junior entered the family business. Showing his father"s flair for business, in October 1963 Con Smith, acquired the Renault franchise from the O"Flaherty group. A year later he opened Cavan Engineering Ltd., which manufactured and distributed agricultural machinery. At the end of November 1964, he acquired different properties in Wexford, where he set up the assembly plant for Renault cars. In 1969 the Smith Group was launched on the Irish Stock Market. At the same time Con Smith started negotiations to obtain the Peugeot dealership. It was at this point he formed the private company called O"Gowan Holdings. With controlling interest in nearly 50 companies and directorships in New Ireland Assurance, Central Bank and Irish Ropes, Con Smith was, at 43 years of age, one of the most successful businessmen in the country, employing over 1,500 people. Just before his untimely death he had started negotiations with Sir Basil Goulding to establish a merger of the two companies with the interest acquiring ICI (Imperial Chemical industries, based in the UK). There was nothing of the cold business tycoon about Con A. Smith, he was an intensely human person, deeply interested in the welfare of others. As he said 'what is achieved is achieved by people and not by individuals.' He married Gemma Faccenda in 1964, the daughter of an Italian cardiologist, and they had four daughters.