Plans are to be launched in Rathmore to honour the late Richard (Dick) Godsil who was instrumental in establishing the Cadbury chocolate factory in the area and was the manager of the plant in its first eight years of operation.
An open invitation has been extended to all former and current employees to attend a meeting at Rathmore Community Centre to discuss a suitable memorial to honour his contribution to the life of the parish.
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 28 at 8.00pm.
A legendary figure in the commercial life of Rathmore and Kerry, Dick had a great knowledge of the dairy and confectionery industry and he helped create suitaable employment opportunities for so many people in Rathmore and its surrounds.
Born in 1917 and a native of Boherbue, Co Cork, where his father, Patrick, was the local creamery manager, Dick was educated in Rochestown College before he completed a dairy science degree in University College Cork.
The only son in a family of five, he married Noreen Fuller from Listowel in 1936 and they had two children, Ann and Tony. He started his working life with the Dairy Disposal Company which later became Kerry Co-op when he was then based in Dingle.
Dick became manager of the creamery in Rathmore and in 1948 he joined chocolate manufacturers Fry-Cadbury to oversee the establishment of a chocolate crumb factory at Rathmore which once employed 300 people. He became a director and was appointed manager while he also served as a director with An Board Bainne for 29 years until 1990.
Dick also oversaw the development and construction of the Cadbury plant in Coolock, Dublin.
Following his retirement, he served on a number of state boards, including Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the ESB. He passed away in Dublin in June 1999, at the age of 86, a year after he returned to Rathmore to join in the company’s golden jubilee anniversary celebrations.
Dick is fondly remembered by an older generation in Rathmore as a solid and pioneering businessman and generous and kind-natured person who did a great deal of work for the community.
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