Death in Fermanagh: Obituary of Mr. Victor Alfred Beatty

Whether called Victor, Uncle Vic or Gandhi – he didn’t mind how he was referred to.

Born on June 4, 1943, the youngest of six children to George and Elizabeth (Lily) Beatty, his siblings were Roland, William, Lexie, Noreen and Kenneth.

Although the family lived at Magheracross just over a mile outside Ballinamallard, Victor was born during the Second World War and, given the restrictions on travel at night, Lily Beatty, in the last week of her pregnancy, went to live with her sister May at Main Street, Ballinamallard, where Victor was born.

Therefore, Victor was a true 'Ballinamallarder', born between the bridges.

Educated at Ballinamallard National (Church of Ireland) School, where he could be described as an unenthusiastic pupil, he left as soon as he was school-leaving age, at 14 years old, it was said that on his last evening to come home from school, he kicked his schoolbag into the corner of the room and said: “That’s the end of that!”

He attended Enniskillen Technical College for a year and commenced work as a trainee mechanic at County Cars.

Victor met Valda Hassard and they married on August 21, 1965 in Inishmacsaint Parish Church. They lived opposite that church, where their two sons, Christopher and Arthur, were born.

In January, 1966, Victor moved employment to the Local Education Authority as a school bus driver and caretaker at Belleek Primary School.

In 1969, Victor’s brother, Lexie – who ran the home farm – died at just 39 years old. Following this, Victor, Valda and the two boys moved to Magheracross to take over the running of the farm, where they remained to live and work.

In 1970, Victor’s employer moved him to the Education maintenance garage in Kesh as the facility manager. He remained as maintenance manager and transport supervisor until his retirement more than 30 years later.

Not one for accepting an easy retirement, he then went to work for Beatty Fuels, looking after the gas section of the business. He remained here until December last year, just seven months ago.

Victor had a great history of community service. On Palm Sunday this year, he brought his donkey to the church to add a live experience to the occasion.

He received his 50-year service certificate as a member of Magheracross Orange Lodge a few years ago. At the age of 18, he joined the Territorial Army, then the USC, and with the formation of the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1970, he joined the local D Coy where he quickly moved up the ranks to become Company Sergeant Major – the highest rank achievable for a part-time, non-commissioned officer, completing almost 40 years of service between the TA and UDR.

It was during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that Victor came to the fore in sport, although he tried a little boxing in the TA, and he helped form a local Tug o' War team, which he was the coach of.

This team excelled during those decades, winning leagues and trophies throughout Northern Ireland and Great Britain, both at military and civilian competitions, representing Northern Ireland on the international stage on many occasions.

The highlights for Victor in the Tug o' War competitions were always the Royal Tournaments – these were the Windsor Castle, Earls Court and Braemar Games, where members of the Royal family were always present and distributed the prizes.

Other years of community service included his assistance to the late Sam Moore to help run the Knockbracken Fishing Lakes, just a few hundred yards from Victor’s home.

He was a member of the Royal British Legion, and took great pride in commanding the Legion events at Ballinamallard and Irvinestown on Remembrance Day every year.

Victor was always a great manager, highlighted by his management with the Education Authority and UDR.

He was great at managing situations, but also managing people – but none more so than his management with the farming enterprise.

From a small holding, Victor and his family put together a very substantial farm unit, without Victor ever doing much of the manual work.

It was very rare to find Victor milking the cows, and although he may have made thousands of the small square hay bales every year, he used all his management skills and encouragement to put together a willing – and many not so willing – group of volunteers to help bring the bales from the fields to their storage shed, with Victor either helping by driving the tractor, or even with the excuse of being away on a Tug o' War competition.

There are many stories of Victor, but some will vouch that on a summer evening he went to the camp at St. Angelo, gathered up a dozen friends – most that had probably never seen a hay bale before – and brought them to a farm he had rented outside Trillick, where eight fields of baled hay awaited to be lifted and got to the shed.

That was an experience which those helpers ensured they never got caught for again, or repeated.

He loved his home county, and loved Lough Erne, where he was a regular traveller on the lough in his or someone else’s boat.

His fishing and leisure cruising trips were renowned, where Victor was always the skipper, managing and controlling the voyage.

He was a committed supporter of Ballinamallard United FC since its reformation in 1975, and was a key fundraiser for the club and current chairman of the clubhouse committee.

As with everything else he did in life, Victor was a ‘doer’ – some of us in life have ideas, some will think about them, but what you were sure of with Victor was that he followed through with those ideas, and ensured that they happened.

This was certainly the case in his role at Ballinamallard United FC.

Victor was loyal to whatever he was involved in – loyal to his family, loyal to his work, loyal to his colleagues, and loyal to his community.

What Victor was not – he wasn’t jealous, or coveted other people; he enjoyed to see others doing well in life, and would only wish them well and fully support them.

He was a great encourager to everyone he knew – sometimes that encouragement was telling you something you didn’t want to hear, but that was his style.

He was straight to the point and told it as it was, but it was always what he believed; he didn’t think one thing and tell you something different.

Arranged by Marcus Madill Funeral Director, Victor's funeral took place at Magheracross Parish Church, Ballinamallard.

The funeral service was taken by Archdeacon Brian Harper and the hymns were 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' and 'Abide With Me'. Nunc dimittis, the Canticle of Simeon, was read during the service, with interment following at Craghan Cemetery.

A devoted husband of Valda, a much-loved father of Christopher (Josie) and Arthur (Helen), Victor was also a dear brother of Noreen Elliott and a very special grandfather of Ben, Phoebe and Harry. Our friend, Victor – until we meet again!