Interviewed by Paul Greene

Paul: How long have you lived in Kilnamona?
Mary: I was born in Kilnamona in 1935. I am now 86, so all my life I have lived there and I went to school in Kilnamona.

Paul: Do you have any fond memories of you living here?
Mary: The best memory I have is that I used to visit the Barry family, who lived next door to me, and we used to do a bit of dancing there. In mid-life, I went to America a few times because I had cousins over there and friendship. I had some cousins in Kilnamona and some in Ennis.

Paul: Have you seen this community come back from hard times before?
Mary: I have, in the line of working on the farm. It’s much easier to do all the farm work now with all of the machinery and for milking the cows. There were no machines in my time, but there are now and there are creameries so there is no butter to be made.

Paul: What are the things that have helped you through lockdown and what brings you joy?
Mary: I read a lot of books, I did a lot of word searches, I did some knitting and I went on the internet. I was very lucky that my family lives near me and they used to visit, but at the very end I was delighted when the day care centres opened.

Paul: What does your community mean to you? What sort of things are you doing now to stay connected to your community and family as well?
Mary: I go to the day care centres 5 days a week. I go to two different ones and I enjoy meeting all the friendly people there and we do a lot of activities at both day care centres.

Paul: What message do you want to share for yourself and your community in 10 years time?
Mary: I hope to stay positive and I’m very glad that we have got through Covid and I’m also delighted that none of my family got Covid and with God’s help that we won’t get anything like it ever again.

Below are Paul’s creative response to his conversation with Mary. There are also examples of Mary’s crafts that she’s made at Day Care Centres in recent times.

Mary Greene