Birthday celebrations for 100-year-old Mary

A SIXMILEBRIDGE woman, who is a devoted Clare Champion reader, recently joined the small club of centenarians in the county.

Mary Ryan, Cooleycasey, Sximilebridge, who was born on February 7, 1912, celebrated her 100th birthday recently with a €2,540 cheque from President Michael D Higgins.
The mother-of-11, who looks forward with a great sense of anticipation to her weekly copy of The Clare Champion, was surrounded by family and friends for a special mass in her home celebrated by her nephew, Fr Pat Littleton, Dangan, Tulla, who is now parish priest in Dublin.
Fine Gael county councillor, John Crowe was one of the locals who provided some timely entertainment, with his rendition of an Irish traditional song, during the celebrations.
Mary was born in the parish a few miles away in Fortwilliam and married her husband, Dan Ryan, in September 1940.
He died in 1979 and she is also predeceased by her daughter, Kitty, who was killed following a car accident on her way from Meath to her father’s anniversary mass on January 28, 1998.
Blessed with a good appetite, Mary eats and sleeps well and overall is in good health. She has lived through the sinking of the Titanic, Clare’s first senior hurling All-Ireland title in 1914, the 1916 East Rising and world wars.
In her younger days, she worked hard on the farm, completing all the daily chores for their beef, tillage and vegetables, when people were self-sufficient for all of their dietary needs.
Her children include John Ryan, Cratloe, who is well known in GAA circles, Tossie, Melbourne, Australia; Flan, Sixmilebridge; Bríd, Limerick; Mary Francis, Limerick; Josephine, Limerick; Donal, Sixmilebridge; Josephine, Dublin; Georgina, Micheál and James, England.