San Francisco mourns the death of a true Celtic Supporter.

[Joe O'Rourke]

It was with great sadness that I heard the news that Richard Mc Kenna had passed away peacefully yesterday in San Francisco.

Glasgow Celtic has followers in every country in the world, and many of them reside in North America where they emigrated in great numbers in the sixties and seventies looking to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Richard was from Nitshill in Glasgow, he moved to San Francisco in 1969, he took with him his love of Celtic Football Club. He and his great friend Harry Conway were founder members of the San Francisco Celtic Supporters Club.

They would be present every week in The Fiddlers Green Pub to watch Celtic play, no matter what time of day or night; the members will be devastated by the news of his death.

Richard was instrumental in the San Francisco Club hosting two Celtic Supporters Conventions in the city; they brought the legacy of Brother Walfrid to North America by raising lots of money for worthy causes.

I had the pleasure of Richards’s company on a few occasions; he was a very pleasant and humble man, a man of great stature. A couple of years ago I arranged a visit to Lennoxtown for him and his nephew, we managed to get a photo of him with Lenny, the smile on his face was as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge.

Glasgow Celtic are a global phenomenon because of people like Richard, he took the all- inclusive and charitable ethics of Celtic and educated and encouraged the younger generation in his adopted country to live by those ethics.

Richard was a very active Celtic Supporter, he led from the front all the time, if there were jobs needing doing, then Richard would be first in the queue to volunteer. He attended the North American Convention every year, whether it was on Canada or Los Vegas; or his favourite venue; his home city of San Francisco.

Richard was a great member and supporter of the North American Federation of Celtic Supporters Clubs; he will be sadly missed by all their members and friends.

I would like to offer the condolences and deepest sympathy of everyone at the Celtic Supporters Association to Richards’s wife Marie, and to his son Richards Jnr, his daughters Kathleen and Marie-Claire, and his grandson Declan. In the words of Willie Maley “They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind”

Requiescat in pace Richard .. You’ll Never Walk Alone ..