A respectable scholar

April 7, 2009 in General, News

denis_leonard_01b.jpgWhen Denis Leonard (pictured left) was a student at Crescent in the 1950s, his mother received a letter from Fr O’Beirne, Prefect of Studies, noting that Denis had improved of late, but remarking that “being the ordinary boy with his usual faults of inattention and disinclination to work, I have to use every weapon with him and his likes to get all I can out of him”. “Between us,” he concluded, “we will make him a respectable scholar”. On his final day at school Denis took the risk of ‘borrowing’ the sign ‘Prefect of Studies’ from Fr. O’Beirne’s door. He recently returned it to Dermot Cowhey of the Crescent Sesquicentenary Committee. Earlier this year the University of Limerick presented Denis with a Doctorate in recognition of his scholarly work at the Limerick Civic Trust, and Fr. O’Beirne’s wish was thus fulfilled.