Limerick lady with a sweet tooth celebrates 107th birthday

IF YOUR GP ever tells you to give up sweets then tell them about Betty McElholm who celebrates her 107th birthday this bank holiday Monday.

The remarkable Kilmallock lady loves nothing more than enjoying a bag of Scots Clan.

“She loves chocolate toffees - she will go through them non-stop,” smiled her proud nephew John Murphy, from Bruree. 

His late mother Margaret (Bobby) and Betty were sisters. Margaret lived to 97 and their mother Mary passed away at 95 so there are wonderful genes in the family.

Mary ran a shop on Kilmallock’s main street where incredibly Betty still resides with the assistance of John and another relative. The shop was burned to the ground by the Black and Tans in July 1920 when Betty was three-years-old but that’s another story.

Betty will be celebrating her 107th birthday in St John’s Hospital where she has been cared for for the last two weeks.

“She is good. She is due to be discharged tomorrow to Marie Goretti Nursing Home in Kilmallock for two weeks respite. We will have a very small celebration in the hospital today and then a bigger one tomorrow in the nursing home,” smiled John.

Betty’s memory is better than yours or mine and she can vividly remember the 1933 All-Ireland final that she was at in Croke Park when she was sweet 16.

“It was between Limerick and Kilkenny. Limerick were winning until the very end when Kilkenny got a late goal. It was a player by the name of Johnny Dunne and she will tell you she cried at the end,” said John.

There have been plenty tears of joy watching the county’s hurlers since Betty turned 100 and John Kiely even brought Liam MacCarthy twice to her home.

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As John Murphy reflects on his aunt’s incredible life he says that Betty lived under British and Irish Rule, through two World Wars and countless national and global events we learned about in history class.

As well as her aforementioned sweet tooth, Betty puts her great age down to never having drank or smoked.

“She has a great interest in life, what’s happening in the news and television, papers and radio. She keeps in touch with what is going on,” said John.

Ireland's then oldest woman, Kitty Jeffery, from Cloyne, died at the remarkable age of 109 in January. Coincidentally, there is a south Limerick connection as her father James Clancy hailed from Kilfinane.

John isn’t sure where Betty stands in terms of the oldest people in Ireland but says she must be very near the top.

A very happy 107th birthday Betty from all at the Leader and across Limerick.