by Louise Doyle
CASTLEFINN woman Ruby Druce was remembered yesterday at her Requiem Mass for enriching the lives of so many people during her own extraordinary life.
A large crowd of mourners turned out to bid an emotional farewell to the remarkable 109-year-old, who passed away peacefully surrounded by her devoted family on Thursday.
Mrs Druce’s funeral Mass was held at St Mary’s Church in the border village of Castlefinn.
Fr Ciaran Harkin, the parish priest of the Aughaninshin parish in Letterkenny, where Mrs Druce, pictured left, spent 10 years while living with her niece Margo Butler, who sadly passed away last summer, celebrated the funeral Mass.
He told mourners how Mrs Druce was blessed with an extraordinarily long life, during which she enriched the lives of so many people.
“She was blessed with an extraordinarily long life. She enriched the lives of so many different people in so many ways. I did my best to turn her into a Letterkenny woman, but she was Castlefinn through and through.”
Fr Harkin extended his deepest sympathies to Mrs Druce’s family and friends, and remarked how there were many people who affectionately referred to Ruby as ‘aunt Ruby’.
“No doubt her passing has left a huge hole in your hearts,” he said.
Mourners heard how Mrs Druce in her lifetime had survived the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
It was said that when people thought of Mrs Druce, what she had lived through would often come to mind first, but that her real lasting memory will be the lives of all the people she touched.
Paying a special tribute to Mrs Druce, Martin Harran recalled the love shown to her on the special occasion of her 100th birthday.
Mr Harran is the husband of Mrs Druce’s niece, Carmel, with whom she spent the final months of her life with.
“The entire village turned out to celebrate with her and what was supposed to be a quiet cup of tea turned into a major logistical exercise.
“We never imagined that day that we would enjoy Ruby for another nine years.
“When the media talk about Ruby’s life, they talk about the things that she lived through, but it struck me that Ruby’s real history was Ruby herself and the people she touched from her days as a teenager in the shirt factory to her position as Ireland’s oldest person.
“There was a large spectrum of people who loved Ruby, from young children who adored her to people who shared so many great memories of Ruby.”
Ruby Druce pictured with her nieces Carmel Harran and the late Margo Butler on Ruby’s 108th birthday.
Mr Harran said it was “a privilege” to care for Mrs Druce.
“Ruby was very lucky in having the extended family to care for her and it was Ruby herself who created that.
“She was someone who was very easy to like and to love. I genuinely cannot express how much of a privilege it was for Carmel and me to have Ruby in our home for the last eight months.”
Mr Harran thanked the large number of people who helped Ruby, including the team of home helpers, nurses, palliative care nurses, occupational therapists and priests.
A photograph from Mrs Druce’s wedding day to her childhood sweetheart Jim Druce in 1956; her ninth centenarian medal sent by President Michael D Higgins for her 109th birthday in December; a boiled sweets reflecting her love for them; her Rosary beads; and her Christening robe were among the special items symbolising Mrs Druce’s life which were brought forward during requiem Mass.
Fr Harkin told of how Mrs Druce was never without her rosary beads, and of how she “waited patiently for the call from God”.
“It was very much a prayerful waiting,” Fr Harkin said.
“It seemed to me that Ruby was in a state of continual prayer.”
Fr Harkin told mourners that Mrs Druce will be remembered for her kindness, caring nature and “interesting sense of humour”.
He praised her zest for life and said she has left a “deep impression on so many”.
“Ruby Druce fought the good fight to the end, she ran the race and she certainly kept the faith.”
Born to George Crawford and Elizabeth (née McBride), Ruby was the eldest of five children and arrived into this world four months before the Easter Rising of 1916.
Mrs Druce was predeceased by her parents, husband Jim, brothers Geordie and James, sisters Maggie and Molly, her niece Margo and nephew Tony.
She is survived by her nieces Carmel and Claire, and nephew Seamus and extended family and very close friends.
Following Requiem Mass, gardaí formed a guard of honour as Mrs Druce was laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery.
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