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Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Bridge of Sighs (and Laughter)
Walking to Ringsend for Paul Durcan's funeral on Thursday, I noticed a crowd of locals gathered on the city side of the humpbacked bridge that crosses the Dodder just before the village. They were waiting for the cortege, a man told me, to continue an old tradition whereby – even if they don't know the deceased - Ringsenders help the bereaved family carry the remains over the river to the church. As I took up a position on the far side to get a picture, a woman emerged from somewhere in funeral finery (and a bright red hat). 'Are they going to carry Paul over the bridge?' she asked. They are, I told her, pointing to where the hearse that had just arrived. 'Oh gosh,' he said, hurrying off to join in. READ MORE Sure enough, from there to St Patrick's Church, the cortege became a local production, as the undertakers stood aside temporarily, and the villagers took over as pall bearers and funeral directors. Not all those involved were dressed for the occasion. One leading participant had a baseball hat and shorts. But, the informality of the attire somehow only added to the poignancy. The idea of crossing rivers to eternity is a staple of mythology. In James Joyce's Ulysses, where Paddy Dignam made the journey in the opposite direction to Durcan, the four rivers of Hades become the Dodder, the Grand Canal, the Liffey, and the Royal Canal, in that order. But when I asked Father Ivan Tonge of St Patrick's about it afterwards, he thought the Ringsend tradition might have its origins in a more practical consideration. The Dodder is notoriously prone to flooding on its last stretches and must have washed many early bridges away: 'Locals would sometimes have had to help carry coffins across.' The custom may also, however, be tied up with the unusual traditions of dockers, a profession to which Ringsend has long been central. It used to be the case – and maybe it still happens sometimes – that a docker's coffin was carried by a circuitous route involving the homes of all his friends, at each of which the door knocker would be lifted and dropped one last time, to say goodbye. More mysteriously (according to a 1953 report in The Irish Press), dockers' coffins were also carried 'between the two gasometers': industrial landmarks of the area. Whatever the bridge-carrying ceremony's origins, like many old habits, it might have ended in 2020 with the pandemic. Instead, that only increased the determination of Ringsenders like David 'Smasher' Kemple to keep it alive. 'The Covid ruined a lot of things, and we didn't want it to ruin everything .' he said in a short recent film for the Irish Hospice Foundation. He soon found himself performing the rite for an old friend, whose death first alerted him to the threat of Covid: 'He was a fit man going down to Galway that Friday,' recalled Kemple, sadly. 'Then a couple of weeks later, we were carrying Larry over the bridge.' Mind you, Ringsenders tend to have a robust sense of humour, and 'Smasher' is no exception. He also jokes in the film that he'd like to hold his own wake before he dies, 'to see what it's like'. In which vein, it struck me on Thursday that it was a pity Durcan – one of the funnier poets Ireland has ever produced - wasn't alive to enjoy his own funeral. Among the poems read during the service was one inspired by the election of the pope in 2013, in which he compares Ringsend to the back streets of Buenos Aires and describes many of the landmarks of the funeral route as if they were stations of the cross: 'The Barber Shop, Tesco Express, HQ Dry Cleaners, the three public houses – The Yacht, The Oarsman, Sally's Return – The Bridge Café, the pharmacy, Ladbrokes bookmakers.' He would surely have got another poem from his last trip into the village. The pallbearers do special requests on occasion. In an interview with the Dublin Inquirer newspaper in 2020, another regular participant Eoin Dunne recalled the funeral of a man who had spent his life working as a match-day steward in nearby Lansdowne Road, a stadium visible from the bridge. On his final journey, as demanded, the coffin carriers did an about turn and bowed the departed in gratitude to the scene of so many pay days. But comedy always vies with solemnity in the Ringsend tradition. Dunne also told the Inquirer about an occasion when the deceased was (a) a former scrap metal dealer and (b) very heavy. As the carriers struggled under the coffin, Dunne recalled: 'One of the lads was saying, 'I think he has all the bleeding copper in it'.' Then there was the time they overdid their enthusiasm for the tradition, stopping a hearse with three limousines behind it at the bottom of the bridge. They immediately launched into the routine of organising each other to carry the coffin into Ringsend, until the driver of the hearse intervened. 'Lads, lads stop,' he said (allegedly): 'This funeral is going to f**king Bray.'
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Family, friends gather to honor man killed in southwest Las Vegas valley motorcycle crash
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Family and friends gathered Sunday to honor a man who was hit and killed while riding his motorcycle in the southwest Las Vegas valley. Jordon Dodder, 37, was riding his motorcycle to work Wednesday morning when a car hit him at the intersection of Russell and Lindell roads. Police said the car failed to stop at the stop sign. With nearly 60 people in attendance, friends and family came out to support the Dodder family as they mourned the loss of their loved one. Jordan's wife, Kelly Dodder, and his father, Greg Dodder, shared the impact he had on their lives. 'People need to wake up': Father of 4 killed in southwest Las Vegas motorcycle crash 'Every morning I wake up and then in the middle of the night, I'm thinking he is going to walk through the doors,' Kelly Dodder said. 'He always let me know how beautiful and amazing I was. People like that don't exist anymore.' 'I have zero regrets and my relationship with him was wonderful,' Greg Dodder said. Jordan Dodder's co-worker and friend, Kevin Irani, told 8 News Now that Dodder has always shown up for him, who is a fellow bike rider himself. 'He loved his motorcycle and the renegade freedom that came with it. The turnout is impressive and I'm glad to see it. It touches my heart because it shows all the people who care for him,' Irani said. Police said the person driving the car that hit Jordan Dodder stayed at the scene and showed no signs of impairment. A GoFundMe has been created for the family. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘People need to wake up': Father of 4 killed in southwest Las Vegas motorcycle crash
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A Las Vegas man killed on his way to work, marks the second motorcycle death in a week in Clark County. Family and friends identified Jordon Dodder, 37, as the motorcyclist in Wednesday morning's crash. 'People need to wake up, pay attention to the roads, to the signs,' Jennifer Breeden, a friend, said. Dodder was described as an amazing father, a devoted partner, and a proud veteran. The 37-year-old's life was tragically cut short when he was killed by a car that police said ran a stop sign. 'Not well at all,' Kathleen Brown said of how her sister was doing. 'He was her person. He completed her. They were perfect together.' Brown flew into Las Vegas to support her sister Kelly and her four nieces and nephews during this tragic time. 'She was packing their lunches and getting ready, and she got a phone call from someone that he works with that drove past the accident site, and he said he thought it was Jordon's bike,' Brown said. Deadly crash closes intersection in Spring Valley Officers responded Wednesday at around 5:30 a.m. to a crash on Russell and Lindell roads. According to the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, Dodder was driving his 2013 Harley Davidson west on Russell Road when a car hit him at the intersection of Lindell Road. Police said the car failed to stop at the stop sign and the driver of that vehicle reportedly didn't show signs of impairment. Breeden and Jasmine Roofe started a GoFundMe for Kelly Dodder. They've been friends with her for about 30 years. 'When you're behind the wheel, that is such a massive weapon, that people don't realize can just take your life like that,' Breeden said. Kelly Dodder teaches at Mannion Middle School and was awarded Educator of the Year for CCSD 10 years ago. To their friends, both Kelly and Jordon were dedicated to each other. 'You can tell by how much they loved each other – they were really and really in love,' Jasmine Roofe said of her friends. It is unclear at the moment if the driver who hit Jordon Dodder will face charges. There have been 52 fatal crashes in the Las Vegas Metro Police Department's jurisdiction so far this year. At this same time last year, there were 48 fatalities. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
