Mairín walked everyday and loved the grounds of Maryfield Nursing Home which looks down on the Weir (Image/The Echo)
Ireland’s oldest woman Máirín Hughes passes away aged 109
MÁIRÍN Hughes, Ireland’s oldest woman, has passed away peacefully at the age of 109.
A resident of Maryfield Nursing Home in Chapelizod, Máirín celebrated her 109th birthday in May with a special mass – and also enjoyed a mimosa with friends and fellow residents.
Having regularly spoken with Máirín in recent years, Echo journalist Maurice Garvey described the centenarian in previous articles as a sprightly, engaging and humble woman, who has had an eventful and fulfilling life.
A trailblazer for women in the workplace between the 1930s and 1960s, Máirín completed a degree in science and a diploma in education at University College Cork before working in the pathology lab in UCC’s Department of Medicine for 14 years.
She was also a teacher in the Vocational School in Ballyfermot, after she relocated to Palmerstown in 1950 with her late husband Francis Hughes.
Máirín enjoying a glass of sherry with Father Liam McCarthy on her 109th birthday in May
She lived through the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 to 1919, which killed at least 50 million worldwide, and recalls dropping food supplies to the doorstep of sick neighbours with her older brothers Ruaridh and Conn before “running away.”
During her childhood in Kerry, she remembered spending holidays with her family on the Blasket Islands, and “going out with the men to fish for lobster”.
“We went there about three times and stayed in a house on the islands.
“I’d go out fishing with the men for lobster.
Máirín was amused at her front page story in The Echo on her 106th birthday
“I thought it tasted a bit ‘as leamha’, it was tasteless”, she told Maurice during one of their conversations.
Máirín loved the scenic surroundings at Maryfield, which has a fantastic back garden overlooking the Weir, with benches and night lights.
She walked every day, was a woman of faith and an avid fan of classical music and literature.
Among Máirín’s many interests was scrabble hence the scrabble birthday cake when she was 106
Máirín received a cheque, and a bottle of her favourite sherry, A Winter’s Tale, from the President for her 100th birthday in 2013.
“My father Liam Sheehan loved that sherry”, she said.
“I always knew it was Christmas when I saw that on the table.”
Máirín passed away in Maryfield Nursing Home following a short illness on Tuesday, surrounded by her Maryfield community, and is survived by her niece, Nuala and nephew, Michael.
Funeral details will be published on RIP.ie.
