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Taxi fleet owner John Joe McGovern remembered for charit

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Stephen McKinley

The death on Friday of John Joseph McGovern has shocked and saddened the Irish community in Woodlawn and Yonkers.

Affectionately known as John Joe, the Cavan man was joint owner of Break to the Border taxis, based in Yonkers. He had operated the business since 1996 with co-owners Paul Geraghty and Frank Ferrante.

McGovern died early Friday morning of a massive heart attack. He leaves a wife, Mary (nee Evers, from Longford) and two small children, Kieran, aged 3, and Emer, who will be 2 next Saturday. His mother also survives him back in Ireland. He was 47 and a respected and much loved pillar of the local community.

“Everybody’s just really sad,” said Break to the Border office manager Ann-Marie Chalmers. “He worked in two bars after he came out here, Innisfree and the Blackthorn. He was very involved with GAA, especially the Fermanagh ladies team.”

She added that McGovern was well known for his generosity. “He knew everybody and he was at every benefit that was going. If he heard of a need, he was there.”

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McGovern also worked with the Aisling Irish Center in Yonkers, and was active every Monday evening with the Irish group that regularly provides food for the homeless in the city, often working around the Penn Station area in Midtown.

“He provided the van, and he’d drive everyone down into the city to hand out sandwiches. But he donated a lot that people don’t see,” she said.

When teenagers came over from Ireland, either for summer work, or to stay permanently, McGovern did his best to help them out and to find work for them.

McGovern’s business partner, Paul Geraghty, also paid tribute to his friend.

McGovern was waked on Sunday, and his body was taken back to Ireland for burial on Wednesday. It had always been his dream to return to Ireland, Chalmers said, and to raise his children there. His children and his wife were his pride and joy, Chalmers added.

“People should know how much he did for the Irish community here,” she said. “Words will never express what he did for people over the years. We’ve lost a good friend.”

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