OBITUARY: One-firm man and sporting all-rounder who epitomised the word 'gentleman'
A MAN whose loyalty to Portadown Rugby Club may well have cost him senior representative honours and certainly denied him inclusion at a higher league level has died.
Derek Logan passed away in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital following a stroke.
He was a member of the Portadown team which won the Towns' Cup in the late 1950s and recently he attended a reunion for the survivors of the 1957 and 1959 cup-winning sides.
Portadown born and bred, Derek - who was predeceased by his brother, Garfield - was the eldest of five children.
He was educated at Edenderry Primary School and Portadown College.
He entered the world of employment at the age of 16 by joining William Sprott Ltd, remaining with the Edward Street company for 44 years. He retired at the age of 60, never having worked anywhere else.
He married Ann in 1962 and within a few years the couple had become parents. Jill was born first, followed by Peter.
Derek was a model father - loving, caring and supportive, but never boastful about his children's achievements. Quite the opposite, in fact, for by nature he was both modest and unassuming.
He was a warm and generous man, too, and when Jill married Brad and Peter wed Joan, the new son-in-law and daughter-in-law were brought into the family and treated like Derek and Jill's own children.
PLEASURE
In due course he became the grandfather of six grandsons, 'the boys' as he called Jill and Brad's quartet in Kent - Jake, Angus, Hugo and Oli - and Peter and Joan's sons Charlie and Joe here in Portadown.
'The boys' were a huge source of great pleasure to him and he was never happier than when playing sport with them.
Often he was in considerable pain with a knee injury which dogged him for years. And it was while he was in the Royal for surgery to ease that problem that he suffered his fatal stroke.
School runs had been a big part of his post-retirement life and he enjoyed providing an unpaid taxi service on both sides of the Irish Sea. Indeed, he was on first-name terms with many of the Kent mums, for on retiring from work he and Ann became frequent visitors to Jill and Brad's home.
At work he had risen to become a company director in Sprotts, citing his most enjoyable years as having been the 10 in which he worked alongside son, Peter, who followed him into the business.
The workforce at the factory where he spent his entire working life held Derek in the highest regard.
An all-round sportsman, he loved football, rugby and golf and he was very good at each.
He played football for Portadown reserves and, in the summer, Rugby Rovers, earning a reputation for his particularly hard tackling.
But he excelled at the other 'football' code - rugby - and dozens of his former oval ball colleagues joined Portadown officials in the congregation which packed Thomas Street Methodist Church, the turn-out reflecting his popularity and the regard in which he was held by so many.
Derek was a rugby club stalwart and his playing record was exemplary, for in addition to winning the Towns’ Cup he captained his home-town club and gained Ulster junior honours.
REGULAR
Post-playing, he took a keen interest in affairs at Chambers Park. A regular on the touchline, nothing gave him more pleasure than seeing Peter go on to captain the club 30 years after he had. As in work, it was a case of a son following his father’s excellent example.
Golf was another of Derek’s sporting passions and with him being a member of both the Portadown and Portstewart clubs, retirement gave him greater opportunity to play. As with both football codes, he played the game well and always in a wholly sportingly manner.
A colleague at Carrickblacker summed him up by saying, “If you were asked to define a gentleman, you only have to say the name Derek Logan. He spoke ill of no-one and saw the good in everyone. Nothing was too much trouble for him when it came to helping a friend in need.”
Another described the friendship his and Derek’s families had enjoyed by saying, “We did nothing without the Logans and everything was better with them.
“We shared holidays together and our children saw Derek as their second dad. He was always part of their fun - the barbecues on the beaches, the races on the sand.
“He watched them progress, taking as much pride in their achievements as in those of his own family. Lifetime friendships formed.
“We saw Derek as indestructible - always there and totally reliable.
“You only had to ask him once to do something for you and it was done.”
Derek is survived by his 94-year old mother, his three remaining siblings, his wife Ann, daughter Jill, son Peter, son-in-law Brad, daughter-in-law Joan and his six grandsons.
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Weather for Portadown
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Temperature: 8 C to 18 C
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