Achill remembers Marie Howet
John Twin and Mary McNamara with the history of Marie Howet's 50-year Achill links. Picture: Eóin McNamara
It was Dooagh's John 'Twin' McNamara who first put the writer Mary J Murphy on the trail of Belgian painter Marie Howet's lengthy links with Achill almost 20 years ago, so it is an immeasurable joy that in his 90th year he was able to sit for this photograph with his wife Mary just a few days ago.
The book, , is dedicated to John and Mary, and it would not exist without them. Their son Eóin, took this wonderful picture.
"Before I visited Howet's own home in Belgium earlier this year, John and Mary gave me a biteen of Dooagh turf, plus a small piece of Keem Bay amethyst to place on her Libramont grave, and both lie there now, connecting her in death, as in life, with her beloved island," said Mary J.
John launched 'Achill's Eva O'Flaherty' at Scoil Achill in 2012, and 'Achill Painters' at the same event in 2020, so this - unlike the unlucky Mayo team which he loves so dearly - is something of a compensatory three-in-a row!
