Passing of 102-year-old Bridie Byrne mourned in south-west Donegal

The death has taken place of Bridie Byrne (née Sweeney), Main St, Ardara, and formerly Mulantiboyle, Glenties.

Bridie passed peacefully in her 103rd year in the wonderful care of the staff of the Donegal Hospice, surrounded by her loving family and dear friends.

She is predeceased by her sister Molly and husband Hugh. Bridie will be hugely missed by her brother Danny nephews Donal, Raymond and Brendan, nieces Mary, Bernadette and Patricia, extended family Mary, Maureen and Frank, her great nephews and nieces and all her friends in Ardara and Glenties.

Her remains will repose at Shovlins Funeral Home, Sandfield on Thursday evening from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and tomorrow Friday evening from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Funeral from there on Saturday morning at 10.30am to The Church Of The Holy Family, Ardara for 11am Requiem Mass with burial afterwards in Glenties Cemetery.

Bridie was born in Gortnasillagh on March 2 - which was Ash Wednesday - in 1922, and used to recall going to the dance hall in Kilraine in her youth. Celebrating her 100th birthday in 2022 in an interview on DonegalLive, Bridie spoke fondly of the dances and could even recall who the better dancers were.

As a young girl, Bridie, whose family moved to Mullantiboyle, remembered running to Mass and attending The Children of Mary meeting afterwards and then making her way to the dance hall later in the evening.

“In 1942, the hall in Glenties opened,” she said in 2022. “That was the beginning of the style. The town girls would wear long dresses and it was five shillings to get into the dance. It was the place everyone wanted to be.”

Years later the dance hall in Glenties fell into disrepair but was soon converted into a picture hall and Bridie used to go and enjoy films with her friends.

Casting her mind back to her childhood Bridie had good memories but she can also remember people living in difficult conditions:

“Thinking back to that time, there were families who had no water,” she said. “People did live in terribly poor circumstances.”

Bridie got her first job in the Post Office in Carrigans and would also be asked to work in the nearby bar, at times.

“I used to be up before 7am when the mail car came in,” Bridie said. “There was no let up during the day. Do you remember the old phones?

“Well there weren’t many phones back then, the gardaí had one, the customs had one, the carpet market had one too and one or two other houses. These phones went off from 8pm until 8am,” the room groans - mobile phones in hand bags and pockets. It wasn’t like it is now.”

One of Bridie’s favourite memories of living in the border town was the “black bread during the war.”

“I used to cycle across the border one way and smuggle the white bread in another way,” she recalled.

She enjoyed her time in Carrigans before moving to Killybegs. A qualified bookkeeper, Bridie was very employable. During her time in Killybegs, Bridie caught TB and spent two years in a hospital in Belfast.

“I went into hospital in Belfast for two years and when I came out I got a job in Johnny Boyle’s hotel in Glenties. Then I moved to McDevitts and later to the knitting factory, Kennedys,” she said.

Bridie’s mother was Bridie née Dunleavy and her father was Ambrose Sweeney. She attended the national school in Glenties and later attended the secondary school where she learnt shorthand, typing and bookkeeping.

She attended St Martha’s College of Agriculture and Domestic Science in Navan, County Meath. Bridie recalled a few girls from Donegal being there with her. She didn’t like the Navan-based facility and left. She later married Hugh who was a taxi driver in the town. He was also a gifted blacksmith. He passed away seven years after they married.

“We extend our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Bridie Byrne,” Ardara GAA club posted. “The Oldest Lady in the Parish, and a lady she truly was. Rest in Peace Bridie.”