WEST Belfast has lost one of its most well-known residents with the passing of Jackie Rice, aged 90.
Born in Albert Street in 1935, the family moved to Andersonstown Crescent where Jackie lived until he married Rosemarie Murphy in April 1958. The newlyweds first moved to Carrickfergus for a couple of months, before settling in Suffolk Crescent in West Belfast. They had five children together – Jacqueline, Paul, Noel, Alan and Brendan.
Jackie left school at the Hardinge Street CBS at aged 14, and was a man of many talents. He began his working life as an apprentice barber, training with Owenie Muldoon's. He had a role as advertising manager in the early days of the Andersonstown News. He also worked as a driving instructor, a milkman, a solicitor's clerk, an insurance man, a turf man and a furniture delivery man.
At one time Jackie decided to go to England for work, intending to bring the family with him. However soon after arriving he realised that England wasn't for him. Fortunately, the family home on Suffolk Crescent hadn't yet been sold and so he returned to Belfast.
He started a part-time job delivering newspapers with thousands of Andersonstown News copies delivered over the years. He was also working as a driving instructor during this period, and managed to combine the two jobs quite successfully. Jackie included the Andersonstown News deliveries during driving lessons for his students, which gave them valuable parking practice and lessons in driving in traffic.
Jackie was an accomplished performer, singing in bands such as Ryegrass and Glenties with his brother David – who was one of the founders of the Andersonstown News. David played the fiddle. In fact, Jackie was so well known for his singing that when he had to have his tonsils removed, doctors referred to him as 'The Man with the Golden Tonsils.' Many of his gigs were held to raise money for the Green Cross.
Jackie's family recall a story of him playing in a club during the Troubles when the British Army came in. They approached Jackie and asked him to sing 'The Sniper's Promise,' which he did while they radioed it back to their base. A couple of days after that incident Jackie was stopped at a roadblock on the Donegall Road with his PA equipment in the back of his car. The army were about to make him take it all out and search the car, before a soldier came along and recognised him from the club the previous night and waved him through the roadblock.
Jackie rubbed shoulders with other Irish performers such as Daniel O'Donnell, whom he knew from summers spent in Kincasslagh, and would be involved in selecting Andersonstown's representative in the annual 'Mary from Dungloe' festival. Waterfoot and Donegal were the two main holiday destinations for the family.
Jackie was always very proud of Belfast and not afraid to share Irish history with people he met abroad. Indeed, he was so knowledgeable about local history that a friend in Dublin sent some Australian tourists to him so he could act as their tour guide around the city.
In their later years Jackie and Rosemarie travelled extensively. They enjoyed cruises and spent time in Australia, and up until recently would have travelled back and forth to Spain.
Robin Livingstone, Group Editor of the Belfast Media Group, said the Andersonstown News has lost a key figure.
"Jackie was a wonderful source of information about the early days of the paper for those of us who came later," he said. "We all remember with great fondness how he lit up our newsroom with his unfailing smile and his colourful stories every time he dropped by. When the history of the paper comes to be written, Jackie Rice's name will loom large."
Jackie would have been 91 on the 31 August this year, and up until he became unwell in October of last year he was still driving, shopping, cooking dinners and looking after his beloved wife Rosemarie. Rosemarie passed away on Christmas Eve 2025.
Jackie spent four months in hospital, and came home on Good Friday of this year. He enjoyed his last few months in the comfort of his own home in Suffolk Crescent, sitting at the back of the house looking out at the garden.
Jackie passed away peacefully in hospital on the 22 August, aged 90. Jackie's funeral takes place at 11.00 on the 27 August in St Joseph's Church in Hannahstown.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
