John Diver, a legend in the world of clay pigeon shooting and from Gortmacall, Milford passed away peacefully surrounded by his family and in the care of Donegal Hospice staff on Tuesday morning after a lengthy illness.
He was aged 76 and father of Francis Diver, a founder member of the Tirconaill Tribune.
The Requiem Mass is in St. Peter’s Church on this Thursday at 11.00am followed by interment in Milford Cemetery.
John Diver was a well-known figure, both nationally and internationally in the world of clay pigeon shooting for many years.
He led and managed the Irish team in the five nations competitions and was a founder member of the Mulroy Clay Pigeon Club. He was also instrumental in its relocation to Loughnakey where a new premises was also constructed.
John Diver, RIP.
The club hosted two of the five nations internationals in recent years. He was also a founder of the Milford gun club and was a licensed firearms dealer for forty years. He was also a recipient of a Donegal Sports Star Award.
He was equally at home in Croke Park on All Ireland Final Day to cheer on Donegal or in the world of soccer where he went to Old Trafford with his grandsons.
He had a keen interest in all sports and enjoyed the challenge of competition. In former times he reared pheasants to release into the wild. He developed a huge knowledge of guns and could carry out many of the repairs in his own workshop.
And despite his busy life he still found time to call the bingo at the Milford Inn for many a year.
A native of Rathmullan, John served his time in carpentry in the old vocational school in Letterkenny and later was part of a group that produced furniture in a new business venture in his native Rathmullan.
Then in 1960 he went to the town of Hochstadt in Bavaria with sixty other locals to train in the world of lamination for a new German Prewood factory that was being located in Milford.
And it was in Bavaria that he met his future wife, Agnes Boyce (from Gortmacall) some 1,800 kilometres from home. They were married for 53 years.
And later he founded the Mulroy Construction Company in association with Johnny Strain. All the while his interests in clay pigeon shooting and competitions were being developed.
After a spell in construction he began ran his own carpentry shop and began devoting more time to the Clay Club overlooking Mulroy Bay.
John was essentially a family man who contributed so much to the world of sport and still found time to be an executive member of the National Association of Regional Game Councils and rarely missed a meeting as he travelled all over Ireland and the UK in the promotion of his ideals.
John who was predeceased by his brother Liam in 1972 is survived by his wife, Agnes, sons, Francis and Peter, daughter Carmel: grandchildren, Mark, Toni, Joey, Jaynaid and Dahi: son in law, Salem Rayes, daughter in law, Laura Diver, his sisters, Kathleen, Walsh, Ballintra, Rosaleen Black, Rathmullan, his brothers in law, Richard Walsh and Joseph Black, his sister in law, Mary Diver, Ard O’Donnell Letterkenny along with his nephews, nieces and cousins and the extended family circle to whom deepest sympathy is extended.
