Julia McLoughlin

Julia McLoughlin died in her home in Derreens, Achill on St. Brigid’s Day, 2013 in her 103rd year.

She was known by many different names, Julia Mhary Moran, Julia McGinty, Julia Mhary Kettie and Julia McLoughlin but mostly she was know as ‘Nanny’.

She was born in Bleanaskill on October 6, 1910, the eldest of four children born to Michael and Mary McGinty. She had three brothers Johnny, Martin and Tommie, all of whom she was very close to. As a young girl she worked in Scotland in the potato fields (the bothys) for half of the year. She got married at nineteen to Pat McLoughlin and set up home in Derreens. They had five children, Celine, Margaret, Michael, Padraig and Christine. Tragically Margaret died very young at three years and Julia suffered further heartbreak when her husband Pat died in 1974 and daughter Christine passed away in 1994 at the young age of 52.

Nanny saw remarkable changes in the world. She saw a World that went through two World Wars, major Economic Depression, the birth of the Free State, the Black & Tans and a level of modernisation that has transformed everyone’s way of living. She has moved from the blackboard to the Plasma. She was always amazed by new technology and would often ask when having a picture taken ‘How did I get in there?’.

Like for everyone then, times were not easy for Julia, raising a young family and looking after elderly relatives. But Julia made sure everyone was well taken care of and friends and neighbours were made welcome in her home. She loved having the ‘craic’ and visiting relations and she had a lot of relations! She would go to Currane to her cousins Mary and Bridgie Moran, home of her mother, and would consider herself a Currane woman as that’s where she went on her holidays as a young girl. If she got together with her cousins Mary the Bus, Julia Bheag and Mary Mhaggie you would not get a word in edgeways with their craic.

She was a great neighbour and even though she envied our freedom nowadays, she talked fondly of the old days when you spent a day with a neighbour doing their hay or turf and people looked out for one another. These people were her lifelong friends and they relied on each other. As she said ‘we were all the same then’. She was a strong and able woman who laid out the dead or assisted with the birth of the young in our village in older days. She was both strong of character and strong of faith, going to Mass religiously until her late nineties and saying her prayers with passion every day and night. She had a collection of rosary beads from all over the globe and took one to bed every night when she could be heard praying in English and Irish until she fell asleep. She was a compassionate woman and would pray for all the creaturs in the world. Nanny liked to say ‘God Bless You Darlin’ as a thank you and was always thankful for the help and love she received. You would need a thick skin sometimes as Nanny said what she thought, her favourite topics being your hair (or lack of it) and your weight (or gain of it) and of course your clothes. She would often ask ‘Will you give me that when you’re finished with it?’. She loved colourful things and especially loved purple, pink and red which was lucky because she watched a lot of Man United games. She was drawn to sparkly things and was never without a colourful brooch.

Nanny was young at heart and loved nothing better than going to ‘Ketties’ (Johnny Patten’s) for a night out and was known to enjoy a whiskey or two. She had a great love of music and dance and loved to listen to the bands especially her cousin Mickey Gallagher’s band and Cheers. Her 100th birthday party was a brilliant occasion for her and she enjoyed every moment at the Wednesday party and the Saturday party, smiling and clapping in her wheelchair enjoying the craic.

Nanny was a ‘Dan’ (of Dan McGinty’s clan) and proud of it. She was, for the last number of years, the oldest Dan and became known as Queen of the Dans and loved to meet and spend time with this vast extended family. She loved her Irish and would break into it regularly, and would still say riddles ‘as Gaeilge’ from her youth.

She was a great family woman and loved to be out and about. She was always surrounded by people either her family or her friends as she was good fun and enjoyable company. When she was fit she loved to head off with her grandchildren on a night out or ‘go spinning’ and more often than not detour to a pub for the craic. Even in her later years she would often be seen with her son in the car spinning as she loved to be out in the fresh air.

Nanny had a short illness and even as she got weaker her spirit shone through, with a wink or a song. She sang a few bars right up to the end. One of her last requests was to be carried shoulder high, plenty of whiskey and no tears. We couldn’t help the tears Nan but we did all the rest. She was not afraid to die as she had such strong faith and wanted to be with her ‘people’. She died peacefully on St. Brigid’s Day with her children and grandchildren by her side. She has left a huge legacy of love and stories to her family, great memories to all that knew her and a footprint on this life that will never be erased.

It was a privilege to have her as our Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother.

Rest in peace Nanny. Ni bheidh do leithead ann arís.