THE passing of Ethna Kelly, Stranorlar on Sunday, August 30, may have been met with deep sadness, but those who knew Ethna, will share happy memories of a lady who touched the lives of so many.
Brigid (Ethna) Boyle was born in Lettermakenny, Stranorlar on October 31, 1930, the middle child of eleven children of John and Bridget Boyle (née Kelly).
She was educated at Stranorlar NS. by Miss Kate McLoone (aunt of playwright Brian Friel) and Miss Aileen McMahon.
After leaving school and after working locally, and in the former Ritz Cinema (alongside her recently deceased friend Sheila Roan, who passed away just two weeks before Ethna, aged 101). Ethna emigrated, at just 19, to Surrey in England, where four of her siblings had already set up home and established themselves in the local community. She trained and qualified as an S.E.N. and worked in hospitals including Chingford in London.
As a young girl, she remembered a plane crash landing during World War 2, at ‘Caughrens’, now Murphy’s of Edenmore. She and her friend Maura McMenamin crossed the river during their lunch break from school to view the scene.
She spent over 20 happy years in England and returned in 1970 to look after her mother, Bridget, as at this point her mother had already been predeceased by six of her children. Ethna met and married the late Eugene Kelly, a well known salesman and Convoy native.
Ethna spent most of her life caring and looking after people, whether it was in her professional capacity or as a daughter, sister, wife, mother and as a caring aunt to her late niece Mai Boyle. She has looked after and cared for a lot of neighbours and friends.
She was an easy going, kind-hearted lady who enjoyed the simple things in life, especially her garden and loved nothing better than to enjoy a coffee with her neighbours including the Crawfords and her late, lifelong friend, Maura Meenan.
Although being a cancer survivor of 20 years, she kept the “best side out” and no matter how she felt, she never complained and kept “young at heart”.
Failing health necessitated her being cared for in her own home for the past two years and she was looked after with love, dignity and compassion by her son, Jonathan.
Ethna will be sadly missed by her son, extended family and many friends and neighbours.
Her death sees the end of an era with the passing of the last of the Boyle family, ‘Railway View’, Stranorlar, a family whose origins are rooted in the area for a few hundred years.
Ethna passed away peacefully on Sunday, August 30, at her home in the Glebe where she had resided for 90 years.
Funeral Mass took place in Church of Mary Immaculate, Stranorlar on Wednesday, September 2 with the main celebrant Fr Kieran McAteer, assisted by family friend Fr John Joe Duffy, CC Creeslough.
Readings were given by son, Jonathan and niece, Veronica Higgins. Soloist was Alice Gildea, with the psalm being sung by nieces Cora and Deirdre Murray.
Symbols of Ethna’s life were brought to the altar by Kathleen Heraghty, Leona Lafferty, Jean Murray and Kelly McMenamin, with the introduction given by Brenda Crawford.
Prayers of the faithful were read by Sheila Quinn, Daniel Crawford, Mari Ward-Foster, Mary Patton and Raymond Quinn.
Burial took place afterwards in the family plot at Chapel Street.
Brigid Ethna was predeceased by her husband, Michael Eugene in 2010, her parents, John and Bridget Boyle, by her sisters, Josephine McCauley (Paddy), Helen, Alice and Mai Boyle, her brothers, Terence, Raymond (Kathleen), Jim (Katie), Frank (Katie), Leonard (Bridie) and Brian and her niece, Mai Boyle.
She is survived by her son, Jonathan (Glebe), brother-in-law, Brian Kelly (Dublin), sister-in-law, Maureen Boyle (Surrey), nephews and nieces including Veronica Higgins (Milford) and Sheila Quinn (Ramelton), grand-nephews and nieces and great-grand-niece, Molly, also by her cousins, Benny Gordon, Sylvia Stapleford, Bernie Kelly, Patsy Gornall, Rita Corry and Peter Sharkey, all to whom sincere sympathy is extended.