North Dubbo residents Kevin and Betty Walkom were saddened to hear of the death of their former parish priest Fr Denis Whelan at Lourdes Hospital on Monday morning.
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Fr Whelan was parish priest of the old St Mary's Church, which once stood opposite the Walkom's home on the corner of Macleay and Bourke streets.
The popular priest conducted mass at St Mary's from the time he was installed there in 1971 until his retirement in 1986.
"He was a lovely man and a great family friend," Betty Walkom said.
"Father Whelan was very popular with all the parishioners in North Dubbo and we were very sad when they pulled the old church and presbytery down.
"Our boys Kevin, John, Peter and Jimmy were all alter boys at St Mary's - the church was a big part of our lives."
Mrs Walkom recalled the many happy occasions when Fr Whelan accompanied them to the football when their boys were playing away games.
"He loved the football and was a great supporter of the Dubbo CYMS Rugby League Club," she said.
"He'd often visit the Harvey's property 'Enterprise' at Rawsonville in the afternoons then come back to our place for tea, we were good friends."
Fr Whelan was born in Ireland in 1916 and spent his formative years in the north of Dublin.
He had three sisters and two brothers, one of which became the light heavyweight champion of Ireland.
Fr Whelan was educated at O'Connell's Christian Brothers College before training for the priesthood at All Hallows Missionary College.
At the completion of his training in 1940 Fr Whelan was posted to Australia.
He travelled by sea via the Cape of Good Hope with stops in Cape Town and Durban before setting off across the Indian Ocean to Perth.
Following stops in Adelaide and Melbourne 24-year-old Fr Whelan arrived in Sydney where he was immediately assigned a relief posting at Coonabarabran.
From there he spent nine years at St Joseph's in Orange where he was instrumental in the establishment of the Orange Catholic Young Men's Society (CYMS).
After his stint in Orange he spent a further nine years at Bathurst followed by periods at Kandos, Cowra and Cumnock/Yeoval before finally finishing up at St Mary's in North Dubbo.
As a tribute to Father Whelan's contribution to the community, a sporting house at St Mary's School has been named in his honour.
Following his retirement he lived for a period at Ozanam Villa and Lourdes Hospital where he died aged 85 about 8am on Monday.
His funeral will take place at St Brigid's Catholic Church, Brisbane Street at 12pm on Thursday April 18.