BERTIE Leckey was just about the most dependable person you could meet.
For his siblings, nieces and nephews he would have done anything, giving freely of his time and money without a thought for himself.
He was equally generous with his many friends and colleagues, and was a faithful and reliable presence in the same company all his working life.
But it was to the GAA community in Co Down that his loyalty was most strongly demonstrated, dedicating 77 years to club and county in a variety of roles.
Born to Thomas Leckey and Anne Collins in 1924, the youngest of six boys and a girl, in his youth Bertie was a keen soccer player, practising with rolled up newspapers with his brothers and following the fortunes of the great Belfast Celtic and Manchester United.
However, a chance attendance at a Down v Armagh Ulster championship semi-final in Newcastle in 1942 changed all that.
He would be at the forefront of the awakening of Gaelic games in Aghaderg that year, and as an 18-year-old became the club's founding secretary and driving force.
Bertie was a skilful dual player but it was his intelligence, tenacity and commitment off the pitch that set him apart.
He guided the club as secretary from 1943 to 1961, as chairman in 1965 and treasurer from 1994 to 2001, supporting all sporting, cultural and fundraising activities at Aghaderg GAC and Ballyvarley HC.
At county level he was also active from 1948 to 2010 in one capacity or another, working tirelessly for the promotion of Gaelic games.
Among his many roles were secretary of the Down Hurling Board, South Down Board and All County League, and he was a member of Down County Board for almost two decades.
He also proudly toured the US with the victorious All-Ireland winning team of 1968.
Bertie received many awards, including the first South Down Hall of Fame Award in 1996 and Banbridge District Council’s Service to Sport Award in the same year.
Away from the GAA he was known in pubs and clubs across the north through his job.
Bertie first joined the Crystal drinks company in Banbridge after leaving school at 14, mixing essences and bottling drinks before moving into sales.
It would be taken over by Diageo but Bertie remained a constant presence until his retirement aged 60, as well as a familiar face in hundreds of pubs despite never tasting a drop of alcohol.
His work brought him to every part of the north during the Troubles, and on one occasion he found himself ordered at gunpoint from his Mini in Camlough in south Armagh and ordered to stay in a barn while the vehicle was taken. Typically though, he didn't make any fuss and would shrug it off as nothing.
He was a constant companion for his only sister May, sharing a home together in Rosevale Road outside Banbridge, just a couple of doors away from his brother Jimmy and the nieces and nephews he doted on.
Always chatty and sociable, Bertie's popularity only increased when his was the first household to install a phone and a television.
Bertie Leckey died aged 94 on January 13.
In a moving tribute, Aghaderg GAC said it remembers with "some sadness but with great pride and affection the life of our club president, a giant of a Gael both for Aghaderg and Down and the perfect gentleman through and through".
He is survived and sadly missed by his sister May, nephews, nieces and family circle and his month's mind Mass will be celebrated at 11.30am on Sunday February 10 at St Mary's Church, Lisnagade.