Lough Graney’s Titanic survivor remembered

***The year in review***

AS this year marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the Lough Graney community came out in force to remember one of their own who was caught up in the disaster.

Mary Agatha Glynn, aged 19, was one of the first steerage passengers to survive Titanic and a very special tribute was paid to her in April. 
Lough Graney was where the young East Clare woman learned to row a boat and on April 15, 1912, Mary Agatha Glynn had to use this skill to row herself and the passengers on lifeboat 13 to safety.
The event attracted upwards of 300 people. In preparation for this occasion, members of the organising committee tracked down Mary Agatha Glynn’s husband’s niece, Peggy who lived near them in Washington over a 10-year period.
Peggy, who now lives in Kerry, lived beside Mary and her family for some time and she explained that they had a summer house in Maryland but no matter how they would try to get her out on the boat, she wouldn’t go near the water.
“Peggy said Mary used to talk about how she said she was lucky she learned to row in Lough Graney and spoke several times about how there wasn’t enough lifeboats,” Mary Noonan of the organising committee explained. 
Upwards of 100 people gathered at the Millenium Bell in Flagmount where Mary was baptised for the tribute event and the public were able to view the register of her birth, communion and confirmation.
An apple tree was planted at Mary Agatha Glynn’s homestead in her honour and a stone from her home was used to create a memorial marker of her birthplace.