Derry Tribble: Reform never comes too late

Meet Derry Tribble, an 83 year old retired undertaker and now devoted husband, a reformed man who in his own words was a ‘little tearaway,’ his earliest memory being one of rebellion and revolt, running away from school before he’d ever set foot in the place.

He is now living out his consummative years in the peaceful and beatific town of Bournemouth.
An average man in many ways but transcendent in others the clearest example being his zealous love for his wife that is still lucidly transparent after 59 years of happy matrimony.

Although at first Mr Tribble’s seemingly brash and irascible exterior was daunting the façade was soon felled and he showed himself to be a sweet natured and benevolent family man, who has no interests outside of looking after his wife Emily, who recently broke her hip.
He spoke of his extensive family with a corybantic fervour telling me of his three children, seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Mr Tribble’s life has been far from straightforward and before becoming the soft and loving person he is today he was what he put as ‘a terrible little tearaway’.

As if proof were needed of this statement Mr Tribble’s earliest memory is a ‘frightening and horrific ordeal’ that we all go through at some point, our first day of school.
‘I remember walking up to the gates and deciding it wasn’t for me, it wasn’t my thing, wasn’t my scene as a youngster. I was four years old and being forced into an old and scary building, no, not for me.’
Mr Tribble then took the course of action that would shape his life, he ran.
‘I just ran away, I couldn’t be bothered with it.’
This rejection of the education system was to carry on for many years, ‘I just couldn’t wait to leave and get a proper job, be a working man,’ until finally he was old enough to start on his own, taking a job as an undertaker, the ironic twist that marked the death of his relationship with traditional schooling.

Mr Tribble went on in his role of undertaker for the remainder of his working life, retiring 16 years ago and making the move to Bournemouth 10 years ago with his wife for the ‘peace and sea air.’

Speaking highly of Bournemouth he claimed that it was ‘one of the nicest places I’ve ever been’ and ‘the perfect place to retire too.’
A well deserved and merited haven for a man that has tirelessly worked for his family and still does so to this day; my respects Mr Tribble.