Connacht Tribune
Connemara native celebrates 100th birthday with reflections on a life well lived
While she has lived through a whole series of life-changing events over the past century, a Connemara woman had her feet firmly on the ground and focused her attention on making the world a better place for those that were important to her.
And as sprightly Maura Joyce from Maam Valley celebrated her 100th birthday this week, she reflected on a fulfilling life that naturally had its ups and downs along the way but overall the centenarian has some fond memories which she regularly shares with family and friends.
She was delighted to be the centre of attention, surrounded by her three daughters and extended family for the occasion of her birthday which took place at her daughter Joan Shine’s house in Claregalway where Maura now resides.
Maura was born on September 28 1921 to John and Anne King and reared in Raigha in Maam Valley along with her two older brothers Micheál and Seán.
She remembers a very happy childhood as her parents owned the local shop and often spoke about the way her mother ran the store and how she was a great businesswoman as well as being a wonderful housekeeper.
Her father ran the farm and was also a shoemaker, making and mending boots and shoes for all in the neighbouring villages.
She said he was the kindest man that anyone could ever meet – and she remembers how, if people were too poor to pay, he just took whatever they could give or didn’t charge them at all.
Having attended school in Tiernakill NS in Maam, Maura loved history and geography and her daughters say that she had the most beautiful handwriting.
It was Maura who transcribed all the Irish stories, gathered from the local area by the school children, for the National Folklore Collection, the originals of which are currently stored in UCD.
After her brothers left home to work in post offices in different parts of the country, she attended the Rural Domestic Economy School in Clifden in 1938 and to the Munster Institute in Cork in 1940 to train for what would eventually be Domestic Science teaching.
However, within a short time, her father became unwell and she came back to Raigha to help run the shop and farm. He passed away a few years later from what would now be a treatable disease, high blood pressure.
During her teenage years and into her twenties, she spoke about being in the Irish Red Cross and how everyone cycled everywhere at the time. She thought nothing of cycling to Westport or Claremorris and if she got a puncture, someone would always come along and help.
Maura was in her early thirties when she married Jack Joyce, who played the violin and sang at the dances while he also played the organ in the church.
“Imagine, he used to come into the shop from when he was 14 years old and I never thought that he was the one I would marry,” she said.
Daughter Ann Hughes, who is married to Pat and lives in Roscahill, described him as the nicest man and the best father anyone could ask for.
Maura and Jack were living in the old house with her mother when they had their first two children, Marian (now Marian Halpenny, married to Pat and living in Meath) and Joan (married to Mike Shine in Claregalway).
By the time Ann was born, they had moved into a new house, most of which was built by their father Jack. Maura often recalled the excitement of having electricity for the first time.
“Dad was working full time in the forestry, and they still had a small farm. We could not have grown up in a happier home,” Ann said.
Family meant everything to Maura. She cooked and baked and produced the most delicious dinners using the fresh ingredients from her garden.
During summers, the family had lots of visitors – and no matter how busy Maura was with the hay and turf, she always made time to cater for them too.
By the time her children finished their education and left home to work, Maura cared for her own mother who lived to the grand old age of 98.
Maura and Jack were proud to attend the weddings of their three daughters and were overjoyed when their first grandchild Ronan (Marian’s son) was born. Several years later, granddaughters Linda and Karen (Ann’s children) arrived. Linda Hughes is a meteorologist and a familiar face to television viewers, as one of RTÉ’s weather presenters.
Eventually as they got older, and after much thought, Maura and Jack sold their few acres of land and as they approached their eighties, they made the biggest decision of all when they moved out of their beloved house and went to live in a new apartment that Joan and her husband Mike had built for them adjoining their own home in Cloone, Claregalway.
Jack was still in fairly good health, and they had a few enjoyable years there before he passed away when he was 85. They were over 50 years married and Maura was broken-hearted and talked about him constantly as she missed him so much.
But she was strong and had great faith and by the time she celebrated her 90th birthday, she had two great grandchildren, Harry and Holly and thinks the world of them.
When she was 91, she broke her hip, had to have an operation and spent weeks learning to walk again. Her determination saw her through despite the fact that she required a walking aid.
She has suffered a number of health problems since then but still read newspapers and magazines while her eyesight allowed. Now, she likes to watch the news and does her best to keep up with what is going on in the world.
Maura still has a great interest in people and loves to stay in touch with her relations, her neighbours and her old friends from Maam.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
