Tyrone woman’s birthday celebrations

19 September 1929

Irish News (On This Day 19/09/2000)

By Eamon Phoenix

In a secluded spot in the wilds of east Tyrone there lives the oldest inhabitant of the county among the bushes. She is Miss Mary McGee who will celebrate her 101st birthday on the 1st January, 1930.

The house in which she resides with her niece, Mrs P Donnelly, is off the beaten track and bordering of the shores of Lough Neagh. It is a single-storey building situated in the townland of Aughamullin, near Maghery, Ferry, and a number of miles from Coalisland.

The dwelling is a typical well-kept country house with stacks of turf built up outside the door. Miss McGee, although showing signs of her very advanced age, is in good health. In conversation with our correspondent, she recalled the days of the Mass gardens or rocks, and said she remembered the burning of one of these religious structures at Nurses’ Hill.

After its destruction a new garden was acquired near Maghery, the chapel which now serves the needs of the Catholics of Maghery was erected. Isn’t it strange how most old people cling to some startling episode as a buoy of memory in the flood of years?