‘Irish’ Billy Briggs recalled as an entertainer who cared
BORDENTOWN — Assam province in India is a land of tropical forests, tea plantations and violet orchids. Through a broad valley rung by the Himalayas snakes the Brahmaputra, a river thought to be to be even older than the mountains themselves.
Against this lush background, a big American takes out his banjo. A “cultural ambassador” sent from Trenton by the Rotary Club, he wants to teach some of the local gentry his favorite Irish folk tunes.
Despite potential objections from his landed and proper hosts, he launches into a number rife with bathroom humor: “Seven Old Ladies Locked in a Lavatory.”
That is how John McCormick eulogized his friend “Irish” Billy Briggs at a service yesterday morning at St. Mary’s Church. Looking down from the pulpit of St. Mary’s to Briggs’ casket and to the hundreds in attendance, McCormick said the six-week trip he took with Briggs was a primer to the man Briggs was.
“Different facets of that trip will identify different facets of Billy’s life and how he affected our lives,” McCormick said.
First, through his love of Irish music, was the entertainer. Second was a man of great generosity.
McCormick recalled a visit to a leper colony in the region, where the sight of the scarred victims drew many to donate money to the cause immediately, in full view of the patients.
“Not Billy,” McCormick said.
Later, McCormick watched as Briggs, out of sight of everyone else, gave his offering.
“He slipped money to the doctor in charge, saying, ‘Just keep it quiet,’” McCormick said.
Another side was a sense of fun and pride that Briggs was known for, besides being a bit of a hell-raiser too.
“Billy was proud that he owned a great Irish pub,” McCormick said.
As they traveled throughout the nation, the reputation of Briggs’ tavern Tir Na Nog on Hamilton Avenue grew.
“From a pub in Trenton, to the best in New Jersey, to the best in the United States, to the best in North America, to the best in the western hemisphere,” McCormick said.
The man honored as an Irish patriot by Sinn Fein will make the last of his countless journeys to his adopted homeland soon. He will be buried in Tipperary, hometown of his wife, Margaret.
For Margaret and the couple’s two 6-year-old twin girls, for friends, for family, for the parents who have already buried two sons, McCormick summed up the feelings of grief.
“Some day our wounds will heal and we will be comforted by memories of our friend,” he said, pushing back against tears. “That future day cannot come quickly enough.”
At the service’s end, Briggs’ casket was moved outside, carried by his pallbearers, many of them longtime Tir Na Nog bartenders. Margaret and the daughters followed behind.
Bagpipes played as the casket was gently placed inside a hearse. Spontaneous a cappella singing began, hushed and low.
A reading from the book of Matthew, describing Christ’s eventual reward of eternal joy in Heaven for the good, was especially poignant for a man whom bartender Frank Connell has said “would give you his last loaf of bread.”
“… For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”
The passage continues, “And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”
