OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 21735, 22 June 1932, Page 4

OBITUARY

MR EDWARD SHEEHAN. MEMBER OF CITY COUNCIL. Regarded as the “father” of the present Invercargill City Council, Mr Edward Sheehan, passed away at his residence, Herbert street, last night at (he age of 76 years. For some time past Mr Sheehan had been in ailing health and at last week’s meeting of the council he was granted three months’ leave of absence, a motion of sympathy with him in his illness being carried. The late Mr Sheehan was born in County Limerick, Ireland, and when but 21, he and his young wife, with the true pioneering spirit, decided to sail for New Zealand. The voyage was made in the Marlborough, which made Bluff her first port of call, and it is worthy of mention than on board the same vessel was Mr Andrew Bain, who later became Mayor of Invercargill. After a period spent in the Waimea district, Mr and Mrs Sheehan- ultimately settled up Opio way, where they commenced farming and where most of their children were born. For some 20 years Mr Sheehan remained in that district and his interest in public affairs was evidenced by the fact that he served continuously on the Opio School Committee, while he was also a prominent member of the Opio branch of the Farmers’ Union. Any matter which was for the welfare of the district found in him a ready champion and he gained an enviable reputation as a man whose sincerity of purpose could not be questioned. About 1911 Mr Sheehan removed to Invercargill, where he engaged in contracting until three years ago, when he retired from business. He enjoyed fairly good health, but recently his heart began to trouble him. It is nearly 16 years ago since Mr Sheehan was first elected to the council, a seat on which he won when, following the Rev. J. K. Archer’s retirement, he successfully contested a byelection against Mr J. Winders. From that date he continued to retain the confidence of the electors and the period during which he has endeavoured to loyally serve the interests both of the citizens and the city itself as a whole has been such that it earned him the appropriate title of “father” of the present council. But it was not only in civic affairs that Mr Sheehan interested himself. He was a deeply religious man, and for several years he was a member of the St. Mary’s Church committee, while he also passed through all the chairs in the Hibernian Lodge, attaining to the highest honour, that of president of the Order. In sporting circles, too, he was well known, for he was regarded as a keen angler in his younger, days and a crack duck and hare shootist. The deceased is survived by Mrs Sheehan and the following six daughters and three sons:—Mesdames W. T. James (Aparima), M. Boyle (Winton), F. Gilroy (Bluff), J. Small (Invercargill), J. Scully (North Invercargill), Miss Margaret Sheehan and Messrs John Sheehan (Ohai), William Sheehan (Wyndham) and M. Sheehan (Invercargill).