The roll books give the occupation of the parents of each child. A wide range of professions appear in the earlier years of the school. They reduced rapidly as the twentieth century progressed, until all that remained were farmers and a few shopkeepers. The following occupations are listed mainly in the nineteenth century:
| Herdsman | O’Dea, Driscoll, Ginnane, McDermott, Larkin, Blake, Mulqueen and Purtell |
| Tailor | Fodge, Collins and Murphy |
| Mason | Barry and Costelloe |
| Shopkeeper | Butler, Kelly and Honan |
| Smith | Mongovan |
| Shoemaker | Greene and Collins |
| Weaver | Kelly |
An occupation not listed was a cooper. The cooper Sheehans lived at Leimnaleha and made barrels and casks.
It is noteworthy that the word ‘unemployed’ never appeared on the books. However, ‘widow’ was listed on a few occasions.
Jack Murphy, Lack - Tailor - at 90 Years of Age
The last survivor of the trades in the area was Jack Murphy, the local tailor. Jack is listed as having registered at Lack School in 1907 after transferring from Lissycasey. The family moved from Leimnaleha to Lack at that time.
He learned the trade from his father and continued to practise up to the early 1960s, providing the local population with made-to-measure clothes.
Jack and his father provided one of the most popular meeting houses in the area where the local male population spent the long winter nights telling stories and discussing national and local affairs. His patrons included two famous local personalities − Jack McInerney and Jack McMahon.
Jack Murphy was probably the only past pupil from Lack School to be awarded an Old IRA medal, marking his role in the War of Independence.
Jack Murphy died on 21 February 1990 at 95 years of age.