Galway mourns death of oldest citizen at 104

The death occurred this week of Galway’s oldest citizen – Johanna Connaughton was remarkably in her 105th year.

Mrs Connaughton died on Monday surrounded by family members; a native of Kilkee, Co Clare, she had lived in Gort for over 80 years.

The devoted great-grandmother had declared that the secret to her long life was nothing more than ‘enjoying a laugh and a good joke’.  Johanna was born in 1910 – before the Great War, the Easter Rising….and a full decade before Ireland even acquired its independence.

She had moved from Kilkee to Gort with her family when she was still just a child, and she later settled down and married her husband Paddy Connaughton from Loughrea in 1934. They were to be married for more than half a century.

In her long and colourful life, Johanna had eight children, 19 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren and lived with her son Gerard and his wife Josephine, after her husband Paddy died in 1991.

She celebrated her 104th birthday last December, and Johanna credited her healthy outlook – she never drank or smoked in her life – with helping her live to the ripe old age

The remains of Johanna Connaughton reposed in Kilboy’s Funeral Home, Loughrea, yesterday (Wednesday) and she will be buried today (Thursday) in Mount Pleasant Cemetery after Requiem Mass at 12 noon in St Brendan’s Cathedral, Loughrea.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.