A son’s tribute to his mother
The late Margaret Irene Murphy.
Generosity of spirit best describes mother. She gave of herself all through life. She was a kind, caring woman who was full of love for people and all creatures of the earth. She was a person who loved life and lived it to the full. She loved to travel and collect souvenirs and take photos of people and places and she organised them carefully in her methodical and meticulous manner.
Mother was a family lady who cared for her three children, myself, Michael and Michelle, as well as her much–loved grandchildren Patrick and Grace whom she cherished and cared for from their earliest days. She gave them the very best example and they loved her and continue to do so. She was completely devoted to her loving husband John.
She loved bringing her grandchildren for day outings and spending holidays with them. She was a generous person who never counted the cost, a truly giving and unselfish person who never put herself first; the other person was her main concern.
She loved animals and had many pets in her lifetime with her dog Posey, as well as the many cats that she cared for in her home over the years – just as recently as a few years ago she would feed a Manx Cat that came into her.
She was raised on a farm and loved her pet lambs dearly. She lived in Graffy, Attymass during the 1950s and 1960s and attended Currower and Bofield National Schools as well as secretarial college in Ballina between 1953 and 1962. She worked in a variety of jobs during her career, including at Mayco in Belleek, Ballina.
Indeed, Mother was a hard-working woman who worked right up to her 74th year. Her last job was at Morrison’s and she loved working there. She was never idle and loved the garden and the great outdoors as well as house work and home improvements.
She could knit and sew, traditional skills that she learned from her older relatives. She had a deep sense of colour and design and patterns. Mum was a wonderful cook also.
She loved coming on holidays from Leeds to Graffy and reminiscing about the life she enjoyed around Attymass and Boniconlon as a child and teenager. The villages of Ellaghmore and Graffy were dear to her heart all through the years and she had planned to return to live there but death took this dream away from her.
She took great pride in her work and was careful to detail and she looked after her family and made a good secure home environment for them.
We mourn and miss her but also celebrate her life, her passions, her contribution and the difference that her life made to all who knew and loved her.
God rest Mother born in Keighley, West Yorkshire on July 8, 1946, died at St Gemma’s Hospice, Leeds on October 9, 2023, aged 77.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dhilis.
