Peadar McElroy has a large envelope filled with old photographs and newspaper cuttings from 1974.
'Senseless slaying of Senator Fox' reads the front page of the Northern Standard newspaper.
‘Murder most foul’ is the headline on another.
For 50 years, Peadar has held on to these records of what happened to his friend Billy Fox on a March night in Co Monaghan in 1974.
He was the only member of the Oireachtas to be murdered during the Troubles.
The 35-year-old had been visiting the family home of his girlfriend Marjorie Coulson near Clones, when he interrupted a Provisional IRA raid.
A gang of around a dozen raiders were searching for guns that they had been wrongly informed were being stashed at the property.
The Coulson family was ordered to leave the house, which was burned down.
Billy Fox was shot dead, his body found in a field the next day.
"That happened on 11 March 1974 and the next morning I met a neighbour on the road and he told me that Billy Fox was after being murdered. It was a terrible shock in the area," Peadar said.
He recalls fond memories of his friendship with Mr Fox as children and young men.
Mr Fox was an only child, a farmer, who came from a Protestant background.
Peadar recalls picking fruit with Billy, and the envy he felt when Billy showed up with a shiny new green bicycle.
"Billy Fox and me were the same age. He was a great neighbour and very trustworthy. I grew up along with him," he said.
Peadar says Billy Fox was "not one to bring controversy to anyone" and was a "gentle soul".
"He was a great friend of mine all down the years," he said.
Billy Fox was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1969 where he served as a Fine Gael TD for Monaghan until 1973.
In the next election he lost his seat, but was then elected to the Seanad.
"He was a very popular man in the county. He was an all round character and he didn't enforce politics on anyone", says Pat Ruxton.
Mr Ruxton got to know Billy Fox through what was then known as the National Farmers’ Association.
"He was a very good man. He wanted to fight for the area and the constituency here, for the people of Monaghan. And he was very popular in that respect. He was also a great motivator for peace, which I think was very important," he said.
Mr Ruxton said the killing of Billy Fox had a "terrible impact" on the area.
"People couldn't believe that such a thing was happening in our community. That a young man in the prime of his life, that his life was going to be taken away so quickly," he said.
Tommy McKeon was six years younger than Billy Fox, but as next door neighbours they grew up together.
He described Billy Fox as a "bit of a practical joker".
"'Come for a spin, lad,' he'd say, and we'd end up at a dance in Dublin!", said Tommy.
Mr McKeon said his death shocked the area.
"He was a very popular man in the community, a leader you know, it was a major shock when he was murdered."
Five members of the Provisional IRA were later convicted in relation to his murder.
An event marking his 50th anniversary will be held at the end of April, led by community group the Latton Bawn Historical Society.
A service will be held at Christ Church in Aughnamullen where Billy Fox is buried. A wreath-laying ceremony is also planned.
Peadar Black, a member of the group, said that plans are also in the works for an interpretive centre at the church, which it is hoped will be open within the next 18 months.
