Obituary: Sarah Coyle, Ireland's oldest resident at 108 who lived with ‘positive outlook' despite being blind for 68 years
She was born Sarah Byrne on July 24, 1916, in Knockatomcoyle, Co Wicklow, and was one of a family of 10 reared at Coolkenno, near Tullow on the Carlow-Wicklow border.
She had clear memories of significant periods in Irish history, including recounting how members of the Black and Tans called to the family farm.
They brought her grandfather James out and 'were going to shoot him at the gable end [of the house] — for no reason', her daughter Marian Galligan told the Irish Times earlier this year. However, after he blessed himself, the group leader ordered his men to put down their guns and let him live.
Ms Coyle moved to Dublin at 17 and became a housekeeper in Foxrock. At a dance in Dún Laoghaire she met a Cavan man, Tom Coyle, and they married and moved to Drumcondra on Dublin's northside.
Tom worked as a postman, and the couple grew vegetables and kept hens, supplying their neighbours with eggs.
Their first two children, two girls, died just 10 days after they were born, but the couple went on to have a daughter, Marian, and son, Patrick.
Sarah began to lose her eyesight in her 30s and her daughter believes it may have been linked to an incident where she was accidentally hit in the face and it affected her optic nerve.
However, as those at her funeral in Blanchardstown on Friday heard, she never complained. Her husband Tom died in 1968 when only in his late 50s after suffering a stroke and a brain haemorrhage.
With her two children still quite young, she was given much support by neighbours and her family.
Her grandson, Thomas Galligan, said that she continued to garden, using guide wires that she made to navigate from the back door to the flower beds, including roses, and to her tomato plants.
She was always someone who was so comforting
He described her as very adaptable with a 'positive outlook on life'. One of her most frequent pieces of advice was 'not to bear a grudge' as life was 'too short'.
She had been an avid reader before losing her sight, and continued with audiobooks. Ms Coyle also had a strong faith. She welcomed visitors, providing generous hospitality, and loved the sound of children's voices.
'Because she lost her sight, the radio was her insight into what was going on in the world,' Mr Galligan said. 'She loved keeping on top of things and then, when she would be chatting to us, she would be discussing it and getting our opinion.
'She was always someone who was so comforting. She had a very gentle way about her, someone that you go to if you're upset or have any issues. She would calm you.'
She was happy to sing a song or recite a poem at social gatherings, but 'to keep the party going' rather than because she wanted to perform.
She rarely drank alcohol, apart from the odd sherry on social occasions and attributed her longevity to a good diet, including using the first new nettles of spring to blend with cabbage and help to 'purify the blood'.
She received eight presidential medals, the first being when she turned 100. After Ireland's then oldest resident, Phyllis Furness, died last August at the age of 109, Ms Coyle took on that mantle.
She was just 10 days short of her own 109th birthday when she died at her daughter's home in Castleknock, where she had been living latterly.
Sarah Coyle is survived by her children, her five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
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