Fashion designer Nora celebrates rich tapestry of life at 100th birthday party in Limerick

A FASHION designer, who has just turned 100, can inspire us all with the long and happy life she created.

Nora O’Connor, of Castletroy, is as hale and hearty a hundred-year-old as you could care to meet. She celebrated the magnificent milestone with family and friends with a big birthday party in the Kilmurry Lodge Hotel.

Mrs O’Connor told Limerick Live there is no great secret to her longevity 

“I never thought I would be 100 - it just came along year after year,” she said.

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Mrs O’Connor never smoked and only had the occasional drink when she went on a night out with her husband.

The Westmeath native met the love of her life, Tom, in Dublin where she studied in the Grafton Academy to be a fashion designer.

“We met in a dance hall. In those times there was no such thing as meeting in bars. The men would be on one side of the hall and the woman would be at the other,” recalled Mrs O’Connor.

The couple moved to Castletroy in the 1960s after Mr O’Connor, originally from Doon, bought some land.

They were together for over 70 years until he sadly passed away in 2018, aged 93. They had five children - Mary, Denis, Grania, John, sadly deceased, and Thomas.

The countryside of Castletroy in those days was a far cry from Grafton Street where Mrs O’Connor had her atelier - right beside Switzers (now Brown Thomas). She designed many evening dresses for Ambassadors’ wives.

Right across the road was celebrated fashion designer and global icon Sybil Connolly’s atelier. Mrs O’Connor used to see Sybil cycling to work and turning heads because she was so fashionable.

Daughter, Grania remembers as a little girl that clients came to their home for fittings.

“She couldn't work, being married and having a family. I handed her the pins as she pinned the hems of the dresses on the ladies while they stood on the dining room table,” said Grania.

Mrs O’Connor embraced life in Limerick, joining a flower club, the ICA, bridge club, and the local GAA club. These societies as well as her grandchildren and great grandchildren have kept her young at heart.

“She reads the newspaper every day, watches all the GAA, rugby, soccer matches and horse racing - she knows all the trainers and jockeys. 

“She watches Mass on her tablet and creative crafts programmes on YouTube. It keeps her brain active. 

“She continues to be creative and still makes flower arrangements for her friends,” said Grania, who paints a picture of growing up in a creative, warm and loving household.

“She’s a wonderful mother - she was always there for all of us,” said Grania. Every Friday morning, Mrs O’Connor’s great friends Maureen Talbot and Betty Farrell pick her up to meet in Maeve Meany’s quilt shop to stitch and have a chat.

Mrs O’Connor wishes to say thank you to everyone who sent cards, gifts and well wishes, including Limerick ICA who said she is “a wonderful friend, full of wisdom and inspiration to all”.

The centenarian, who never drove, is also very grateful to all those who gave her lifts to the many societies she is involved in over the years.