Cecil Garrett Walker (Garry)
East 1942-46
Born in Dublin on 4 April 1928, my father died at home on 7 September 2022, aged 94.
Dad attended The Leys School from 1942 to 1946 and all but his last two terms were spent at the Atholl Palace Hotel, Pitlochry, Scotland, where the school was evacuated during the Second World War.
As a consequence of his own father’s untimely death in June 1946, aged just 49, during his final term at school, my father was unable to attend university, instead becoming articled with Stokes Bros & Pim, Chartered Accountants, in Dublin, in August 1946.
He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1952 and became a partner in 1956. The firm merged with Kennedy Crowley & Co. in 1972 and, subsequently, through an association with the international firm of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co, the name became KPMG. He retired from the partnership in April 1989.
An accomplished hockey player (Three Rock Rovers), an occasional golfer and a member of the MCC, he was involved in many charitable activities. He also found time to reach the highest echelons in the Church of Ireland, being deeply immersed in parochial, diocesan and central church affairs. This was acknowledged in 2004 when the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr RHA Eames, appointed him an Honorary Lay Canon of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, in recognition of his particular and distinguished service to the Church of Ireland.
Married to Hazel for over seventy years, he loved family life in their Monkstown, Co Dublin home and delighted in his six children, twenty grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Words by Richard Walker