OBITUARY: ‘Nora lived through two World Wars, pandemics, recessions’

THE LIFE of a local woman who lived through “two World Wars, two pandemics and recession after recession” has been celebrated.

Nora Gray has gone to her God at the grand old age of 103, having lived a full and happy life.

Originally from Newport – where she was born Hanoria, Nora spent most of her life living in Limerick, setting up home in Myles’ Street just off Pery Street with her late husband, James or Jimmy.

She’d later live in Kennedy Park and was laid to rest after her funeral Mass at St Paul’s Church near Fr Russell Road, where she lived before she moved to St Camillus’s Hospital aged 95.

Nora’s first job was in the Bedford Hotel under a Mrs Dennehy.

Speaking at her funeral Mass, her daughter Marie shared a wonderful memory of how her mother used to keep the hunger pangs at bay during her long shifts.

“She enjoyed working behind the bar, but sometimes they would not have enough to eat, so Nora would go down to the kitchen, where she would have hidden away form hard-boiled eggs and bread for herself and her co-worker. She would then feel guilty about having taken the food, so she would then have to go to confession.”

The penance was five Hail Marys – but then Nora took control, and approached the hotel’s owners.

“She said she wanted a pay rise and more food for herself and her co-worker, otherwise they were both leaving. Well, they got the pay rise and the extra food.”.

‘He was really loved’: Billy passes away suddenly on his Limerick farm

It was never an extravagant life for Nora, growing up on a family farm in North Tipperary, her daughter said.

“Her people were country folk, living off the land for the most part. Going to the well for the spring water was a twice-daily chore, a running stream by the side of the cottage, chickens about the yard, a horse called Chestnut, some cows and pigs and a vegetable plot which sustained their need for the time.”

A welcoming open door was there though for all who passed along the way, added Marie.

It is perhaps this humble upbringing which shaped Nora’s outlook on life, her daughter says, which was to “just get on with it.”

“Make the best of what you have, and always cut your cloth according to its measure – that means don’t live beyond your means,” she told the funeral Mass.

It was “love at first sight” when Nora met Jimmy, and they were married after a courtship of just six months.

“There was no time-wasting in those days, and as they settled into married life, dad’s brothers and sisters would call for a game of cards.”

“They would sit around the kitchen table, and on the range would be a pot of crubeens – that’s pig toes – and after a game of cards, they’d settle into the crubeens and a glass of stout,” Marie told the funeral.

It was at that stage Jimmy would then – without fail – serenade Nora with the song of her name by Johnny McEvoy.

As she approached her centenary year, there were two things she was looking forward to: the acknowledgement from President Michael D Higgins, “and more importantly the cheque,” laughed Marie.

It was in February 2019 that she also achieved a lifelong dream of featuring on the pages of this very newspaper as we covered her birthday party.

Very few people live to be 100, let alone 103, with her daughter noting at the funeral: “They say the average person lives three-score and ten, which is 70 years. But Nora has beaten these odds by a mile.”

Nora Gray, nee O’Gorman, is survived by her loving daughter Marie Keogh, son-in-law Kevin, grandchildren, great grandchildren, extended family and friends.