Widespread sadness in Portlaoise at the passing of the late Denis Kavanagh
There is widespread sadness in the Portlaoise area at the passing of the late Denis Kavangh.
Known affectionately by locals as Spokes, because of the famous bicycle shop in the heart of the town, Denis passed away on Friday, November 11.
Late of Pallas Little, Portlaoise, he died peacefully at home. Beloved husband of Cait, he was dearly loved father to Karen, Orla, Aileen and Róisín. Cherished grandfather to Thomas, Aoibhín and Séan.
He will also be missed by sons in law Dermot Keenan and Eric Farrell, brothers Michael, John, sisters Mary and Rosaleen. He is also deeply regretted brothers in law, sisters in law, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and friends.
He is best known to many in Portlaoise and Laois for the bicycle sales and repair shop he ran on Railway Street where he made sure many local cyclists got back safely on two wheels. His storage area, which was fastidiously managed, was a corner of the pavement outside the shop just beside the former technical school.
A surprising sight to strangers and visitors to Portlaoise, its timeless presence was a comforting symbol of stability to local people.
Denis could be timed by the clock moving the waiting to be repaired bikes out in the morning and in at closing time.
A character, Denis featured in the book written by Pat Boran called the The Invisible Prison, published in 2007. Pat published an extract from the book on his facebook page on the day of Denis's passing as follows:
"Stories about unwelcome extra attention from one would-be (bicycle) repairman on the edge of town had long confirmed us in our devotion to Dinny ‘Spokes’ Kavanagh. And if anything needed doing it was to Dinny we would turn, a man who performed the daily miracle of almost blocking Railway Street with the vast quantity of banged-up bicycles he could produce from a workshop no bigger than the average box room.
"That Dinny’s was heated only by an open fire added to the sense of its being an alchemist’s cave or smithy's of old. And when the man himself grinned and nodded, talked out of the side of his mouth like a black-and-white movie gangster, it was clear that his wisdom went beyond words or language and that his hands – like those of O’Dowd the shoemaker, or Jack Nolan a decade later, or Larry Fitzpatrick the mechanic – might prove themselves in utter darkness, so well did they know their subject and its terrain.
"That a bicycle left in for repair might not be ready when the young rider was keen to have it back perhaps goes without saying. But the wound of youthful disappointment is often healed by the light of the moon, and the following day a bent fork or slack-jawed brake could be good as new, and the wheat and the grasses and the trees in the fields would be waving us on to the chequered flag of a cheesecloth shirt knotted around a branch."
His remains repose at Keegan's Funeral Home on Sunday evening from 6.30 pm, with rosary at 8 pm. Requiem mass at 12 noon on Monday in SS Peter and Paul's Church https://www.portlaoiseparish.ie/webcam/ followed by interment in SS Peter and Paul's Cemetery, Portlaoise.