Kilkenny Steiner School

The Kilkenny Steiner School community send their heartfelt condolences to Iarla, Ruth and Gladys and the extended Lydon Family on the passing of a grandfather, father and husband Patrick.

Patrick Lydon, Westcourt, passed away this week, leaving a legacy for us all, as an example and an inspiration to continue, for the betterment of this country and each other. 

Patrick was born in the Boston area to an Irish-American family; attended (by achievement of a scholarship) the exclusive Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and then, also by academic achievement, to the equally prestigious Yale University.

While still a teenage student in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, he reported for national newspapers such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe, covering such seminal events as the Woodstock Music Festival and the trial of Black Panther Bobby Seale. 

In the early ‘70s he left America to travel in Europe. He met his wife Gladys in Scotland on his travels and they decided to devote their lives to the care of people with disabilities. Invited to Ireland in ’79, they decided to make it their home, creating a caring community for people with disabilities resulting in the  foundation of Camphill Ballytobin. Patrick’s  pioneering vision in creating a  farming way of life involving children with complex special needs led to  the growth  of Camphill beyond Ballytobin,  to Kyle, Coolagh, and later to Callan Town, The Workhouse and Westcourt. The Kilkenny Steiner School originated in 1995 in response to the need for a caring environment and methodology to teach the children of the community. There are so many more inspiring initiatives he curated, led, visioned, collaborated on, but too many to list here…..

One conclusion all those who meet him affirm, “Patrick was the driving force behind so many amazing projects, nothing being a problem, working in the field one day and travelling the world the next day, fundraising to build on national and local grants. He was gentle, genuinely humble and intensely curious for new ideas and new way of doing things. He was a dynamic inspiration to all who worked with him and will not be forgotten.”

Thank you Patrick from all in the Kilkenny Steiner School.