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Irish Independent
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Independent
Obituary: Sarah Coyle, Ireland's oldest resident at 108 who lived with ‘positive outlook' despite being blind for 68 years
A mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who lost her sight at the age of 40, she lived through the early years of Irish independence and the Civil War, two World Wars and several pandemics. 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.
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Irish Independent
Obituary: Father Patrick Ryan, priest known as ‘the Devil's Disciple' for his work as a bomb-maker with the IRA
He was born in Co Tipperary in 1930, the second son of a family of six on a small farm. He joined the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, the Pallottine Fathers, aged 14, became a talented amateur engineer and a mercy pilot as a missionary in Tanganyika. There were clues in his youth to what he would become. His mother was a gifted storyteller who gripped him with stories about her heroism and the wickedness of the Black and Tans a decade before he was born. All you had to do was mention the subject and she was off 'I was captivated by her stories,' he told his biographer, Jennifer O'Leary, in The Padre: The True Story of the Irish Priest Who Armed the IRA with Gaddafi's Money. 'It was like I was back there with her, watching and listening out for the enemy. All she wanted was for us to listen, and we did. All you had to do was mention the subject and she was off, it was in her bones.' From an early age, Ryan displayed characteristics that would be useful in facilitating mass murder: as an eight-year-old poacher of fish, pheasants and rabbits, he showed himself more ruthless than his siblings, who called him Paddy the Skinner. Later, in Tanganyika, he would show an aptitude and enjoyment for big game hunting. When he became a fierce anti-colonialist, he felt remorse for killing three elephants, saying: 'It was elephant country before any man or women.' But he showed no remorse for the men, women and children whose murders he facilitated: 'The only regret I have was that I wasn't more effective; that the bombs made with the components I supplied didn't kill more. That is my one regret.' He was bored with the spiritual part of his job and quit as a curate in 1973. He based himself for a time in Benidorm, collecting millions in donations from the Continent and beyond, which he laundered and delivered to the IRA in complex financial operations. But his major contribution was to transform the efficacy of the IRA's bombs, which had suffered from faulty detonators. In 1975, having spotted Memo Park timers in a Geneva shop window, he purchased the entire stock, which he re-engineered to become perfect bomb timers that would feature in atrocities including the 1979 Warrenpoint massacre of 18 British soldiers and the 1984 Brighton bombing that almost killed Margaret Thatcher. A skilful global arms and finance procurer — 'I set out to go around the world and discover the enemy of my enemy, the Brits, and make their enemy my friend' — he was also quartermaster of a brutally effective IRA murder squad in Belgium and a leading suspect in murders on the Continent. Amid furious international rows, Mrs Thatcher unsuccessfully sought to have him extradited from Belgium and Ireland ('Ryan is a really bad egg,' she told the then taoiseach Charles Haughey). Met with indifference in Belgium, hostility in Ireland and the obduracy of the European Court of Human Rights, she failed at every turn. You never know when you might need to call in a favour Ryan secured 30,000 votes as an Independent candidate in the 1989 European elections in Ireland. In 1993 he was expelled from the Pallottine Order 'for persistent refusal to comply with the legitimate instructions of his superiors'. He fell out with Martin McGuinness ('not to be trusted') and other prominent IRA men such as Joe Cahill ('reckless') and Brian Keenan (who 'should never have been let loose on society'). An attractive young English Protestant became smitten with him in London and sometimes shared the van in which he lived, but he permitted little intimacy in his life. 'I would say she was in love with me, yes,' he said. 'I gave it no thought, but I kept in touch with her because you see, you never know when you might need to call in a favour.' Indeed, she became a money mule until he ditched her as a security risk. 'The trick is to be patient,' he told his biographer, 'because, you see, every person wants something badly, and if you can wait and slowly find out what that something is and then provide it, you're a winner in any walk of life.'
Sunday World
6 days ago
- General
- Sunday World
Ireland's oldest woman Sarah Coyle dies peacefully at the age of 108
'You knew when you were talking to her that you were in the presence of someone significant' – says Mrs Coyle's grandson Mrs Coyle, who was born in Knockatomcoyle, Co Wicklow on July 24, 1916, died peacefully surrounded by her family in Co Dublin on Monday evening, 10 days before her 109th birthday. Her grandson, Thomas Galligan, said his grandmother was an 'inspiration', who lived an amazing life through two pandemics, the Civil War, the War of Independence and two World Wars. "You knew when you were talking to her that you were in the presence of someone significant. She was amazing,' he said. She was one of 10 siblings – and one of three who lived over the age of 100. Her younger sister, Lily, aged 103, lives in Birmingham in the UK. One of Ireland's oldest people, Sarah Coyle, celebrating her 108th birthday last July. She grew up in Coolkenno before moving to Dublin at the age of 17, where she married her husband Tom Coyle – a near namesake of the place where she was born in Co Wicklow – in 1950. She lost her sight just seven years later, at the age of 40, though lived independently for much of her life following her husband's death in 1986. Mrs Coyle has two children, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. "She loved children, even though she couldn't see she would know the sound of the children's voices. She was just so happy when she had children with her,' said Mr Galligan. Mrs Coyle had been living with her daughter, Marian Galligan, in Castleknock, Co Dublin, for the last number of years. Her son, Patrick, lives in Australia. She received eight Presidential medals throughout her life, one for the year she turned 100 and another for each year since. "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,' said her grandson Mr Galligan. "She loved nothing more than having a cup of tea and chatting away for hours. She would just be so happy with the company. Ireland's oldest woman Sarah Coyle, who died yesterday at the age of 108. "Because she lost her sight, the radio was her insight into what was going on in the world. 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 on things.' Mr Galligan said his grandmother was a 'kind-hearted person who would have never held grudges against anyone' and was the type of person who would say 'life is too short to be holding grudges'. "She always thought about others before she thought about herself. She was a very kind, gentle soul, gentle person.' Mr Galligan recalled how his grandmother could recount stories from the War of Independence, encounters with the Black and Tans, and the rationing faced by the country during the Second World War. Sarah Coyle. "She lost her sight when she lived on her own. She loved gardening and flowers. She used to have different guide wires that she made by herself with her hands, to guide from the back door to the flower beds and she knew exactly where the tomato plants and the roses were, to guide herself around. "She was very adaptable with a positive outlook on life. She learned to be happy with what she had and if her family was happy, she was happy.' Like most things in her life, he said she took the title of being one of Ireland's oldest people 'in her stride' and her family has many happy memories of time spent with her. "If we could all aspire to that. Her whole mantra was to kind of 'live and let live, life is too short to be having arguments'.' A funeral mass for Mrs Coyle will take place in Blanchardstown Village Church on Friday morning at 10am, before she is laid to rest alongside her late husband in Glasnevin Cemetery. Ireland's oldest woman Sarah Coyle, who died yesterday at the age of 108 Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 16th
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- General
- Irish Examiner
Ireland's oldest woman Sarah Coyle dies at the age of 108
The death has occurred of a 108-year-old Irish woman who lived through two pandemics, the Irish Civil War, and the War of Independence. Sarah Coyle, a native of Knockatomcoyle, Co Wicklow, had been living with her daughter Marian Galligan in Castleknock, Dublin. She passed away peacefully on Monday, surrounded by her family. Mrs Coyle, who was born in the year of the Easter Rising, is understood to have been the oldest person in the country. Sarah, whose maiden name was Byrne, was born on July 24, 1916, and grew up in Coolkenno before moving to Dublin as a teenager. In an interview with The Irish Times in April, her daughter Marian said her mother had a strong memory of the Black and Tans, the British forces who operated in Ireland during the War of Independence from 1919 to 1921. 'When she was very young, the Black and Tans came around and brought her grandfather James out. They were going to shoot him at the gable end [of the house] – for no reason, they were just going around doing purges,' Ms Galligan said. "He blessed himself and he said, 'Blessed be the will of God'. At this point, the leader of the group told his men, 'Put down your guns. They left him there; they didn't shoot him. It wasn't the will of God,' Ms Galligan said. Mrs Coyle came from a family of ten. Many of her siblings also lived long lives. Her sister Lily Kelly, who resides in Solihull, UK, turned 103 earlier this year, while her brother Andy Byrne lived to 100. As a young woman, Sarah worked as a housekeeper in Foxrock, Dublin, and met her husband Tom Coyle at a dance. He was a native of Cavan and died in the mid-1980s. He had worked as a postman until ill health set in during his late fifties. The couple lived in Drumcondra and had four children, two of whom died as newborns. The grandmother and great-grandmother lost her sight in her early thirties. Sarah rarely drank, other than an occasional sherry 'to be sociable.' She attributed her long life to her mother's tradition of adding the first nettles of spring to cabbage 'to purify the blood.' Mrs Coyle became the oldest person in Ireland following the death of Ruby Druce on March 20 in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. Ms Druce was 109 years and 79 days old at the time of her passing and had lived independently until the age of 98.
The Irish Sun
6 days ago
- General
- The Irish Sun
Heartache as Ireland's oldest person dies just days before turning 109 as family reveal common plant as key to long life
IRELAND'S oldest woman has passed away at the age of 108, her family have confirmed. Sarah Coyle from She was due to turn 109 in just 10 days, on July 24, but her family confirmed she passed away peacefully on July 14. Her grandson Thomas Galligan said Sarah thanked her family and gave them her "blessing" before she passed. Sarah is survived by her two children, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren and her sister Lily. Her sister Lily, who lives in the READ MORE IN NEWS She is predeceased by eight other siblings, her brother Andy passing away just before turning 101. She passed away peacefully in her daughter Marian Galligan's While she was born in Wicklow Sarah, whose maiden name was Byrne, later moved to Tullow with her family. She was working as a housekeeper in Dublin when she met her husband Tom Coyle at a dance. MOST READ ON THE IRISH SUN The Is this the world's OLDEST woman- Great-great grandma lodges bid with Guinness Tom worked as a postman and the couple lived in Dublin raising their children after their 1950 wedding. However, Tom died in 1986 after suffering a stroke and brain hemorrhage and Sarah moved in with her daughter shortly afterwards. Sarah lost her sight in 1957 at the age of 40 after suffering trauma to the head. Missing her sight the woman developed a love of radio and particularly enjoyed listening to SECRET TO LONG LIFE Sarah was a keen gardener and a particular plant has even been credited in giving her such a long life. Her daughter Marian Galligan told The Irish Times her mother would collect the first nettles of every spring. She would then include them in her cabbage. Marian said: "She used to say, 'that will purify your blood'.' Despite her blindness Sarah loved her garden and laid guide wires to tend to it. Having been born just weeks after the 1916 Easter Rising, Sarah had vivid memories of some of history's most important periods. She recalled the Black and Tans rounding up everyone called James in her area, her father included, to identify a man who had shot one of theirs. Her father was taken up the mountains but returned home safe hours later. Sarah also remembers living through The War of Independence and the British control of Ireland. 1 Sarah passed away on Monday
