Huge turnout as Offaly pays its respects to late Liz Nolan

TULLAMORE observed one of its largest funerals ever last week as the late Liz Nolan (née Mooney), Charleville Road, was laid to rest.

Mrs Nolan, who was 87, passed peacefully on Monday, August 18, at the Midlands Regional Hospital, Tullamore and though she had been admitted some days earlier, her death was still unexpected.

The matriarch of a sizeable and well-known local family, there was an enormous turnout for her wake and funeral Mass, with queues snaking back and across Market Square on Thursday evening as people turned out in huge numbers to pay their respects at O’Reilly’s funeral home on Harbour Street and again the next morning at the Church of the Assumption and Clonminch Cemetery. The attendees included prominent current and former politicians, along with sporting and television personalities, though Mrs Nolan, an innately unassuming individual, would have been equally as humbled by the presence of the townspeople that she rubbed shoulders with on a daily basis.

Many seasoned observers concluded that it was the biggest funeral that they had seen in Tullamore, with the deceased an immensely popular and quietly prominent character, whose presence will be sorely missed locally.

Born in Lynally to a farming family on April 3, 1938, the same month that Douglas Hyde was elected as Ireland’s first president, the late Mrs Nolan was the seventh of Jeremiah and Brigid Mooney’s 12 children and was educated in Mucklagh, Killina and the Sacred Heart School in Tullamore.

After a period studying to be a nurse in England, she returned home to work in Salts, a significant employer in the town at the time, before marrying her husband, Tom, in 1963.

They reared a family of 10 children, including two sets of twins, spread across an 18-year period, with Liz the quintessential Irish mother as she ran the family household, never missing a beat despite the myriad demands that came with having so many mouths to feed.

Her devotion to her children was rivalled only by her religious faith, with scores of pilgrimages to Knock, Lourdes, Medjugore, Fatima, Lough Derg and San Giovanni over the years. She was particularly dedicated to Our Lady and Padre Pio, and in more recent times prayed to the soon to be canonised Carlo Acutis. Among her many acts of kindness was to regularly enroll women, several of whom she wouldn’t have known personally, in St Gerard’s League given his status as ‘The Mothers’ Saint’.

She attended Mass every morning until recent years, part of a daily routine that included her grocery shopping and cup of coffee in the Bridge House. A naturally sociable person and a warm engaging chat, she was well known for meeting and greeting people with a smile as she went about her business every morning, while taking a genuine interest in their lives.

The late Mrs Nolan was also a dedicated follower of fashion who inevitably gravitated towards a clothes shop when out and about, locally or otherwise, and was always so stylishly turned out. Her mantra when it came to buying clothes was, simply, ‘a cheap thing is a dear thing’.

Although not a musician herself, she was a keen set-dancer and promoted Irish traditional music among all of her children. She took great pride in their achievements in that context and others, which followed on with her grandchildren, of which she had 27.

Her passions and interests were reflected in the funeral Mass which was celebrated by Fr Joe Campbell, who called to her regularly, with Fr Michael Whittaker, Fr Barry Condron and Fr John Stapleton the concelebrants, while there was pipe music in the church and cemetery, rounding out with a rendition of Hard Times, her favourite song.

The family expressed gratitude to the various medics and carers who tended to her in recent weeks, months and years, all in Dolan’s Pharmacy, particularly long-time family friend Denis O’Connell, Fr Campbell, as well as undertaker Phil O’Reilly, Tullamore GAA and An Garda Síochána for their help and support around the funeral.

Mrs Nolan was predeceased by her granddaughter Chloe Nolan, brothers Lar (London), Colman (Florida), Pat (Lynally), Tommy Joe (Lynally) and Jer (Mucklagh), her sister Margaret (Bracken, Tullamore), her son-in-law John Coyle and nephews Gerard Sheehy and Niall Mooney.

She will be sadly missed by her husband Tom and children Oliver, Fiona, Gerard, Denise, Alan, Marina, David, Paula, Tara and Pat, sons-in-law, daughters in law, her adored grandchildren, brothers Michael (Ballylevin, Geashill) and John (New York), sisters Breda (Flaherty, Ferbane), Tess (Sheehy, Dublin), Mary (Doody, Tullamore), brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours and many, many friends.