A history of Ireland through the eyes of its oldest woman — Máirín Hughes

She lived in Ballydowney House in Killarney, where orator and rebel leader Robert Emmet is said to have been born. She knew island storyteller Peig Sayers and spent many summers on the Blaskets, making the crossing by traditional naomhóg. She remembers the Spanish Flu of 1918, the arrival of the Black and Tans in Kerry in 1920, and a year later, the Free State army.

More than a decade later, in 1935, she had graduated with a science degree from University College Cork and went on to work in the university’s laboratory where she played a role in perfecting the production of synthesised Vitamin C, newly discovered at the time.

She told Maurice O’Keeffe of the Irish Life and Lore podcast (irishlifeandlore.com), that she knew the biochemists who were more deeply involved in the project and helped them to isolate components other than vitamin C.

Her work in the 1930s and ’40s also included testing blood samples sent by doctors from Cork city and county. “I sat into that job beautifully,” she said.

Maurice O’Keeffe first became aware of Máirín Hughes and her exceptional memory through Paul Kerr, whose grandaunt and godmother, Nora Barrett, was Máirín’s best friend. The two women knew each other in Cork and later became residents of the same nursing home, Maryfield in Chapelizod, Dublin, around 1985.

In interviews, Máirín said she kept her mind sharp by reading, playing Scrabble and doing crosswords. Her friendship with Nora also played a key role. As Maurice O’Keeffe explains: “Both women would read a different book every week and discuss it at the weekends.” The two-woman book club continued until shortly before Nora died, aged 105.

Maurice O’Keeffe first met Máirín when she was 107 and interviewed her twice at her nursing home. He was keen to record and archive her exceptional story on the podcast he has been running with his wife, Jane O’Keeffe, for over 30 years.

He got the idea of bringing her around the Phoenix Park in a Model T Ford the same age as herself after he interviewed the car’s owner, John Brady, in Meath.

It’s a joy to listen to a woman older than the Irish State. She was born in Belfast on May 22, 1914, and jokes that she brought the First World War in with her. During the Second World War, she recalls climbing onto rooftops to keep an eye out for bombs, armed with nothing more than a bucket of water to put out any fires they might cause.

Máirín's memories

Her reminiscences of her childhood in Killarney, her friendship with Peig Sayers, her love of Irish and her work as a scientist offer an unrivalled insight into the history of Ireland.

As a very young child in Killarney, she remembers her mother parcelling up food to give to those affected by the highly infectious flu epidemic. Those delivering the parcels were told to knock on the door and then run like the blazes to avoid getting infected.

Her father Liam Sheehan, originally from Rathmore, Co. Kerry, was a customs officer and was one of the few who had a car at the time, as he had to travel around the country hand-delivering pensions, among other things.

At one point, he had a Peugeot and was stopped by the guards. Unfamiliar with the make, the guards looked at the stylised marque on the car and said: “He’s driving something called a ‘gudget’.” Máirín breaks into peals of laughter as she recounts the story.

More laughter ensues when she recalls passing by her present nursing home, some 50 years ago with her mother, when it was being built. Her mother asked a group of young boys on the street what it was. “That’s where the rich auld wans are going to live,” she recalls, with a hoot.

And, at 108, she saw herself as one of those rich auld wans, rich in the sense that she was surrounded by such a good community, she said.

Of her family and childhood community, she says her mother Annie Dinneen, also from Rathmore, was involved in the Gaelic League with her husband. Her first cousin was the famous lexicographer and historian, Fr Padraig Dinneen, who compiled the Irish-English dictionary, first published in 1904.

The family background instilled in Máirín a deep interest in the Gaelic Revival and the Irish language. She’s inclined to burst into song as Gaeilge. There is a wonderful surviving family photograph showing her wearing an outfit made by her mother which incorporated a Celtic design copied from one of the stained-glass windows in St Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney.

Indeed, one of Máirín’s first outings as a driver was as a teenager when she drove her mother to the dressmaker. “When my father found out, there was murder!” she said. And yet, on her 17th birthday, she came down to breakfast to find that he had bought her a driving licence.

She talks with ease about car brands and motorbikes, recalling registration numbers from the 1920s and explaining what the letters meant. She had a Brownie Box camera and treasured it, although it is her memory that is photographic.

With her mother and brother, she was one of hundreds of thousands of people who attended the International Eucharistic Congress in 1932, walking from Rathmines to the Phoenix Park. She is especially proud that her cousin, Lt Col Fionnbar O’Catháin, was one of those who flew in formation above the Cardinal Legate’s ship as it arrived in Dublin.

The Congress was hosted in Ireland to coincide with the 1,500th anniversary of the arrival of Saint Patrick. It was one of the largest gatherings of the 20th century.

Máirín moved to Dublin herself in the 1950s when she married Frank Hughes and she worked for many years as a teacher.

When she turned 109 earlier this year, she said: “I just like living”, and advised others not to waste time and to live life to the full.

She died on Tuesday night, after a short illness, surrounded by her Maryfield Community. She is survived and sadly missed, by her niece Nuala, nephew Michael, cousin Bairbre, and all of her Maryfield family who described her as an inspirational lady who taught us so much about life.

“Maírín was full of knowledge and kindness. She cared deeply about nature, giving back to her local community, and religion played a large part of her life. She lived all of her 109 years to the fullest and we will miss her every day,” they said in her funeral notice. Her funeral mass takes place today.

Maírín Hughes has left an indelible mark during her unusually long passage through this world. May the memory of her extraordinary life live on.

You can listen to Máirín Hughes' jaunt in a model T Ford in this Irish Life and Lore podcast episode.