Frank Short's Memories

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Mr Frank Short Transcription Recorded on 09/03/2023 in Pauls Sartori House.

Present Frank Short (FS), Michael Allen (MA) and Rachal Quimby (RQ)

Transcript

00:00:03 MA: Good morning, Frank. What, what is your full name, Frank?

00:00:04 FS: Good morning.

00:00:04 MA: What, what is your full name, Frank?

00:00:08: Thomas Francis Short

00:00:12 MA: Thomas Francis Short, right and do we have your permission to record this interview?

00:00:14 FS: Yeah, signed the papers.

00:00:20 MA: So. So, Frank tell me, you when? When and where were you born?

00:00:22 FS: I was born in, in Skerry, in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland.

00:00:29 MA: I’m hearing the accent now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And how did you meet Father Sartori?

00:00:34 FS: Well, he was the parish priest when I came over here. Well, I came to work in Haverfordwest, yeah.

00:00:39 MA: and when was that, Frank? when did you come over?

00:00:44 FS: Over 50 years ago.

00:00:47 MA: OK. And what's your earliest memory, your first memory of Father Sartori?

00:00:54 FS: Uh, my wife wasn't Catholic, and she would have the instruction from the parish priest Father Coffey and uh, we decided we'd get married.

And we went to see Father Coffey, to go through the wedding ceremony and all the rest of it. There was the wedding was just the two of us.

No bridesmaids, no best men, just went off and got married, and he agreed to do it. But though the day we went to see Father Coffey. He had a call from the hospital emergency case and he said “Father Paul take over here and run them through.” So, Father Paul said that “If you get married, standing on your head. Do you like whiskey?” I said, “I do.” I said,” well, I've got a lovely bottle of Tullamore Dew, unopened upstairs, and I want someone to share it with me.”

So, we had several glasses of whiskey and there was no free free rum for the for the wedding. We got married standing on her head as he said yeah.

00:02:05 MA:  That’s great, And and how would you, yourself describe Father Paul Sartori? How would you describe him

00:02:11 FS: oh erm, good sense of humour, down to Earth.

00:02:17 FS: My mother was ill and was dying and I was going across to Ireland most weekends to, to see her but every uh Monday morning when I came back, he'd be waiting for me to find out how things went.

 

You know, just, just to keep the form of that. And yeah, I thought it was very kind, you know. A bit of spiritual advice. As well, looking to pick her up.

00:02:50 MA: Yeah. Yeah, you, you've told us a great story already. two great stories already, but do you have any other favourite stories you can recall about Father Sartori?

00:03:00 FS: Well, he was known for his sermons with one of the best ones that he ever gave was when he came out to the altar and just looked out the congregation and went. “Why do I bother?” Went back to saying that's, you know.

And the other story was that I expect this is true because when Mass was finished on the Sunday morning, he liked a pint to the Labour Club. And he announced the author letter. There was a well-known fact that he liked a pint in the Labour Club before his dinner on the Sunday. As they come back to him that several of the local men were saying we're late for our dinner because we've been drinking with Father Sartori.

And he said, “I was in the pub, but I wasn't drinking with them, I'm not taking the blame for late dinners have spoiled dinners and everything, so you women out there, you know the truth now.”

00:03:58 MA: Did Father Sartori impact your life in some way and if so, how?

00:04:04 FS: Just he's attention to detail. Small, acts of kindness. He'll be kind to other people as well. You know, I worked at the hotel industry and a lot of the staff there were foreign, and he had great rapport with the foreign, you know Portuguese, Italians, all the rest of it is very well liked. Always up for a party or a wedding reception or, you know, he was always invited. Enjoy themselves, yeah.

00:04:35 MA: that’s great, If you could. If you could sum up for the story in three words, what would those 3 words be?

00:04:50 FS: Very religious. The good person. And a caring person.

00:04:58 MA: That's great fun. That's great. And, and lastly, Frank, is there anything else, anything else at all that you'd like to mention about Farther Sartori, anything at all?

00:05:09 FS: What am I getting paid for this? That’s all that.

00:05:13 MA: That's, that's. That's great. That's great Frank, we've got everything we need there. Yes, Rachal, happy with that?

00:05:21 RQ: Is there any other stories that you think of even if it's a bit?

00:05:25 FS: No, they're just the words you know. No, he was just. He could be the life and soul of the party, you know.

00:05:39 MA: Great. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks very much Frank.