It is with much sadness that we have learnt that Jenny O’Shea passed away last week.
Jenny first joined Luton AC in 1971 and started coaching in 1973.
She was an absolute stalwart of the club who held most committee positions over the years she was here; Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Team Manager to name just a few.
As mentioned she was also a Sprints coach for 50 years and coached a huge number of Athletes, including a few who went onto international level and indeed the Olympics.
Jenny was supportive of all athletes whatever level they aspired to. She was named national coach of the year in 1995 as well as Luton Coach of the year several times at the Luton Sports awards (which covered all sports in the Town)
She was also very supportive of the Bedfordshire County association having been the Track and Field Championships secretary for many years basically organizing the county championships single handedly. This also extended to her support of the county schools championships.
In addition to all the above Jenny was also a highly qualified timekeeper and was seen at many Track matches at club, county and regional level but also Cross Country, although she wasn’t keen on the cold weather!
Jenny was a force of nature and persuaded many people to compete as athletes, come forward to act as officials (particularly timekeepers) or as a coach and indeed was personally responsible for me becoming Chairman of Luton AC and Secretary of Bedfordshire county association.
She was team manager for the Southern Mens’ league team including a famous bronze medal season and more recently the Southern Athletics league.
Jenny had been struggling with her health over the last five years being less visible at the club but her loss has been strongly felt and will be for some time, She was approached by other clubs to join them as a coach but she remained staunchly loyal to Luton. She is truly irreplaceable as an individual.
Our thoughts are with her family and particularly her husband Paddy who was also a Coach and timekeeper for Luton for many years.
Paul Brooks – Club Chairman
The details of her funeral are below.
The funeral of Jenny O’Shea will take place at Bedford Chapel, 100-104 Norse Rd Bedford on Thursday 13th July at 13.45, followed by a wake at the Knife and Cleaver, Houghton Conquest. Those wishing to attend the service or service and wake should indicate which by contacting me Paul_A_Brooks@hotmail.com and I will pass details on to Paddy. There will also be a live streaming and later viewing. Again, contact me for details
The family are also inviting Donations be made to the Alzheimers society.
To use this facility please visit our website at http://www.abbott-funerals.co.uk/ and visit the Online Donations page. In the Love2Donate section there is a ‘click here to donate’ button to access the donation page. You will then be asked to enter Jennifer O’Shea’s name in order to gain access to their unique donation page.
