Second World War veteran Paddy McInally, who grew up in the Tipperary area of Lochee, has died aged 99.
His home was in Atholl Street in a district packed with families of Irish origin or descent.
Paddy’s father, also called Paddy, had arrived in Dundee from Ireland after a spell in Glasgow, with his Glasgow-born wife, Bella.
The family later moved to Gray Street, Lochee, and young Paddy was educated at St Mary’s Boys’ School and then St John’s High School.
He left school aged 14 to work in the jute mills of Dundee and aged 18 in 1942, was called up for war service.
Second World War
Paddy was due to be sent to Burma but his medical revealed an ear problem so he was posted to Coventry in England instead.
In 1947, he was demobbed and returned to civilian life in Dundee, working on the demolition of the Anderson air-raid shelters which had been built in gardens around the city.
Marriage to Annie Bickerstaff followed in 1947 and the couple began married life with Annie’s mother in Caldrum Street.
They then returned to Tipperary where children Veronica and Paddy were born. In 1957 they got a new house in Fingarth Street, Fintry, where they had daughter Anne.
Paddy took a keen interest in football and took his daughter, Veronica, to watch his brothers, Charlie and John, play for Lochee Harp.
In 1958, he qualified as a referee and officiated at junior games before having to give it up due to work commitments.
Like many of his generation, he also went to Dens one week and Tannadice the next before eventually taking out a Dundee United season ticket to please his son, Paddy.
After working on the shelters, Paddy returned to the jute mills but had an accident in which he nearly lost his fingers.
This prompted a career change and he joined Dundee Corporation Transport as a bus conductor on the St Mary’s route.
Around 1970, the family moved from Fingarth Street to a larger semi-detached property in Findowrie Street.
For several years until his retiral in 1986 from what had become Tayside Regional Council, Paddy worked as a night shift cleaner from the bus depot in Dock Street.
Paddy junior said: “Me and my wife Carol, moved in with him in 2011 and eventually persuaded him to go the the Monday Club at Our Lady’s Church hall.
“He said ‘it’s a weemin in there, I dinnae think eh’ll be back’. But he loved it; the dinner, bingo, dominoes and dancing.
“He had occasional stays in hospital but didn’t mind getting everything done for him, the meals and discussing football and politics with fellow patients.
“My father kept fit by walking and doing his leg exercises including star jumps until just before his 99th birthday. I think that is why he lived so long.”
You can read the family’s announcement here.
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