Margaret “loved life, loved living and loved being with people”

The funeral Mass for an Offaly woman who spent more than four decades living in New York was told this week that her final wish was to return to her native Killeigh to be laid to rest with her ancestors.

Margaret Dunne, who was affectionately known to her family and many friends as Mag, passed away at Calvary Hospital in New York on April 29, following a long illness and was laid to rest in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Killeigh following her funeral Mass on Tuesday of this week.

Mourners at the Mass were told by Parish Priest Fr John Stapleton that Mag Dunne had planned “every step” of her funeral right down to “the final step of being laid to rest with her ancestors” and he added that this desire to return home is “deeply ingrained in all of us” and is perfectly aligned with the story of Easter which is focused on returning home to God.

Fr Stapleton described the Killeigh woman as someone who “loved life, loved living and loved being with people” and, despite having emigrated to New York in 1984, he said her family and her home were “so special to her” throughout her life.

Among the symbols brought to the Altar to represent the many interests of the late Mag Dunne were a sliothar; a golf club; a deck of cards, a family photograph and a nurse's watch. Having returned to college in New York as a mature student and graduating as a nurses in later life, Fr Stapleton said she “loved being a nurse and was a great nurse.”

In a moving eulogy, the late Mag Dunne's nephew, Mark, described her “as the fun Aunty” who was “always full of life” and gave of her time and her love freely to her extended family.

“Even though she lived a very full life in New York and was a very independent and determined person, home was never far from her heart” he said.

He described her decision to become a nurse later in life as “a brave and huge achievement” and said she showed her patients the same qualities that her extended family admired in her, including her “joy of life, patience, caring nature, and her occasional stubbornness.”

She was the person who was always up for “one more game” of cards when everyone around her was ready for bed, said her nephew, so it was no surprise that she faced her illness with the same determination and energy. Concluding his eulogy, he said Aunty Mag had “fought hard and never lost hope that she would have one more game.”

Prayers were offered for the many good friends of the late Mag Dunne in New York who had been “so helpful” to the Dunne family during her final illness, and who organised a wake and a special Mass for her in St. Barnabas Church in the Bronx on Saturday last, and also for the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, whom Fr. Stapleton said provide such “invaluable assistance” to families when their loved ones die abroad.

Mag Dunne is predeceased by her parents, Martin and Mary, her infant brother Joseph, her brother Joe and her half-brother Mike Elliott. She will be sadly missed by her sisters, Mary (Treacy); Betty (Kelly) and Ann (Condron); her brother Tim; sister-in-law Ann; brothers-in-law Tom and Gerry, aunts Doris and Peig, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, cousins, relatives and her many friends.

May she rest in peace.