Captain Douglas John Mooney MBE (7 March 1923 - 27 February 2023), born in the infancy days of the foundation of the State died in Blackrock Hospice a week shy of his 100th birthday. he had been fit and active and a regular attender at Probus on Monday mornings until the onset of lockdown in March 2020.
Many of us refer, from time to time, to the length of a career and Don had enjoyed a particularly illustrious career. He was an only child of Mr & Mrs Cecil Douglas Mooney and was raised on Eglinton Road Donnybrook. His great-grandfather, John Mooney was a founding partner in the major Dublin bakery Johnston Mooney & O’Brien – the largest bakery in Ireland a century ago and the pioneer of wrapped bread and the pioneer of the sliced pan.
Don went to school in Sandford Park as did Dr Conor Cruise O’Brien, Owen Sheehy-Skeffington and Justin Keating. Don subsequently went to school in Wales and Yorkshire. He entered the Engineering School in Trinity College in 1939 and in 1941 during his second year at Trinity he travelled to Belfast to enlist with the Royal Engineers that part of the British Army that provides military engineering and other technical support.
Don concluded his military service in 1947 and began a career in Guinness that continued until 1976 when he retired. His first job was to be in charge of the Vat House overseeing a team where beer is blended. He was appointed to the role of town traveller in Dublin in 1955.
Don moved to Carlow in 1961 having been promoted to Area Manager of Guinness for Carlow and Kilkenny. He and his wife Adrienne (formerly a Jameson) enjoyed living in Carlow and maintained a boat on the Barrow that could accommodate six passengers whom he entertained by keeping a Guinness dispenser on board. Exercising three labradors also helped to keep Don trim and fit. The Mooney family moved to Delgany in 1968 when Don was appointed to the role of Promotions Manager East Coast.
The hills in the vicinity of Delgany were a compelling attraction and while Don tried golf the rate at which he lost golf balls was a trial on his patience and meant that his golfing career was very short! He moved to Killiney after retirement. His wife, Adrienne, passed away in 2011.