Couple’s seventy years of love and devotion

Date Published: 31-Jan-2013

BY BERNIE NÍ FHLATHARTA

Staying married for any length of time has almost become a test of endurance in some societies, but one couple in Shantalla celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Wednesday which may very well make them the longest-married couple in the city.

Pat and Maureen Burke of Macdara Road, who are in their early nineties, couldn’t party because Pat is currently a patient in University Hospital Galway. But on Wednesday afternoon, the Mayor of Galway, Cllr Terry O’Flaherty visited Pat in the hospital where Maureen and family members had gathered to mark the occasion.

The couple were only 22 and 23 respectively when they got married at 7am in St Patrick’s Church seventy years ago last Wednesday, followed by a modest wedding breakfast in the Burke family home in Beattystown.

There was no honeymoon in the austere times of the early 1940s and with little work in Galway emigration was the only option despite being in the middle of World War 11. That is how Maureen found herself working in an ammunitions factory in London, having for a short while worked in the woollen mills in Mill Street.

Pat was working in the Galway Foundry, where he stayed for 30 years, and once the couple had decided to get married, he bought an engagement ring in Dillions and trusted a friend to deliver it to his bride-to-be in London.

Eventually, they secured a newly-built home in Shantalla, where they would raise fourteen children. Sadly, their first born, Dominic, died shortly after birth as did another daughter, Margaret Ann, about ten years later.

All of the fourteen, save two (Paddy in Portsmouth in the UK and Josephine in Jersey) live in and around Galway and among those are a set of twins, Martin and Martina.

Pat went on to work in the textile factory in Sandy Road until he moved to St Mary’s College, where he worked as a handyman for 17.

The couple had great faith and the Rosary was a daily occurrence anytime between 6.30pm and 7pm when whoever was home would kneel down to pray together as a family.

In fact, there was a real emphasis on prayer and, in particular, in times of need such as the time their daughter Josephine was very ill in hospital. Pat prayed to the Blessed Martin and she had what the family describe as a miraculous recovery.

And that faith has been handed down to the next generation as Pat and Maureen’s son, Paddy, who is in the British Navy, believes it saved him during the Falklands War when the ship he was on was sunk.

Pat loves hurling and rugby and still has a fantastic memory of sporting events.

Before he went into hospital a few months ago, Pat used to look forward to going to Taaffes Bar in Shop Street every Saturday morning to meet old friends.

Though there were many proud moments for the couple, one of their proudest was visiting Arás an Uachtaran and seeing their son Dominic, a member of the Red Cross, getting a President’s Trophy from President Mary McAleese for First Aid.

Another huge moment for Maureen was seeing her niece, Catherine Connolly becoming Mayor of the city. Catherine was one of 14 children left orphaned when their mother, Maureen’s beloved sister, Nans, died.

The Burkes continue to be a devoted couple – Pat is 93 on Thursday – and their legacy is the rearing of 14 children, who in turn have produced 40 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.