Bernard McGinty (18 Jan 1931 - 20 Sep 2021)

Bernard McGinty
Born 18th January 1931
Died 20th September 2021
Bernard was the 4th of nine children born to Joseph and Mary Ann McGinty. He is pre-deceased by his brothers Tom, John and Willie and his sister Mary. He has 4 surviving sisters Peggy, Anne, Bridie and Kathleen. He was brought up in rural Ireland on a small farm. The family like many others struggled to survive the poverty at that time in Ireland. When he was a young man he spent 18 months in a hospital in Dublin and thanks to his medical care and the advent of antibiotics he survived tuberculosis of the bone.
He moved to Glasgow soon after looking for work and had various jobs mainly working in pubs. He met Isabella Main in 1962 and they were married in St Peters Church on the 25th August 1966. They set up a small groceries shop in the east end of Glasgow and he worked there until the regeneration of the area forced them to close up in the early eighties. In the meantime they had 4 children, twins Joseph and Robert, Brian and Margaret Mary. He was a keen learner and he always regretted not getting the opportunity to to get a University education when he was a young man so he was very proud when his kids all went on to study at University.
After the groceries shop was closed he went back to working in bars for a while before joining the Parks Department as a gardener. He worked there until he got the opportunity to take early retirement at the age of sixty. This gave him a lot more time for his favourite pastimes of fixing clocks and watches, reading and collecting books. He also loved poetry and had been writing his own poems from an early age. He loved reading the works of the great philosophers and had many debates with Joe who was studying Philosophy at the University.
His faith was very important to him and so when he retired they took the opportunity to visit the Holy Land as well as the great Marian Shrines at Lourdes, Fatima, Medugorje, Guadeloupe and Knock in his Irish homeland. His family background was very important to him and he would regularly travel back to Ireland on holiday as well as visiting his relatives in the USA. He loved nothing more than a good night in with his extended family playing cards and enjoying a few cans of Guinness or a glass of wine. He fancied himself as a good poker player but more often than not his sisters Peggy and Anne would get the better of him and empty his purse of loose change.
When his beloved Isa died in 2008 he took a great deal of solace from his faith. He was a regular attender at the weekday Masses and said the Rosary and the Memorare prayers every day. A few years later his own health began to fail gradually with the early signs of dementia. He was very well cared for at home over a number of years by Margaret Mary, Brian, Maureen and the rest of his extended family and also by the many carers and nurses who visited him regularly.