WALTER Verling, a highly respected painter who taught generations of Irish school teachers in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, passed away at the age 92 at his home in Youghal recently.
Born in New Ross, County Wexford, on August 18, 1930, Walter had strong Limerick connections and was well loved in the community.
In 1970, Mr Verling took up the position of lecturer in Art Education in Mary Immaculate College. The family moved to the Treaty City where Walter’s wife Louise (née Reidy), a native of Adare, began work in the Presentation Secondary School teaching music.
Verling was awarded membership of Honorary Council of the Royal Hibernian Academy (HRHA) in 1994. And in 2008, a 60-year retrospective of over 120 works in painting and drawing was presented in Limerick City Gallery of Art, celebrating his unique contribution to Irish art.
Walter was first child of St John Verling (Newmarket, County Cork) and his wife Madeline, (nee Barry, Midleton, County Cork).
The Verling family moved to Mallow in 1943 and during the long school holidays Walter began to develop his lifelong interest in painting.
After completing university matriculation exams in the late forties, he attended the Crawford School of Art in Cork.
From his art school days, Walter gained and interest in printmaking — particularly fabric printing and weaving, and had a great eye for fabrics.
Walther’s first job was in Clonmel Technical College. Then, sometime in the 1950’s, Walter attended an Irish language summer school in Carraroe, County Galway, to prepare for the Ceard Teastas exams.
It is possible that he may have chosen to go to Carraroe knowing that the renowned landscape artist Charles Lamb lived there. Indeed, he did meet Lamb and would take him out in his car to go painting – as Lamb never owned a car.
In January 1961, Walter met Louise Reidy at a New Year’s dinner dance, which they had attended with mutual friends. Louise was the sister of his friend John Reidy (Sean Ó Riada) and they started ‘doing a line’ immediately and were married by the end of the year (December 30, 1961).
The young couple settled in the seaside County Cork town of Youghal where Louise could travel to nearby towns and villages to teach music and Walter to Fermoy to teach art. Their daughter Katie was born in December 1962, followed by Eithne in May 1964 and Francis in 1966.
In 1967, Walter was offered a post to teach art in the new Comprehensive School in Carraroe and so he and his young family moved there – mirroring the flight to the West of other artists at this time in the 60s, including his brother-in-law Sean. There his youngest son Luke was born.
The family settled in Limerick in 1970 and Walter didn’t take up residence in Youghal again until after the death of Louise in 2005.
Walter Verling passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by his loving family on May 21, 2023, and is buried in North Abbey Cemetery, Youghal.
