Legendary ‘Woman of Aran’ dies, aged 109
Brigid Dirrane passed away peacefully in the early hours of yesterday morning, according to staff in the home. She was the second-oldest woman in Ireland.
Ms Dirrane, who was born in November 1894, saw some of the most turbulent moments in recent history. She was imprisoned during the War of Independence, and spent time in Mountjoy Prison, where she witnessed the hangings of both Kevin Barry and Thomas Whelan. She emigrated to the US in 1927, and canvassed for John F Kennedy during her time in Boston. In 1996, Ms Dirrane became the oldest person in the world to be awarded an honorary degree. She wrote her autobiography, called Woman of Aran, at the age of 103.
“She lived a very fruitful, eventful and effective life, and left a great legacy,” said Rose O’Connor, matron of St Francis’ Nursing Home, Newcastle, Galway, where Ms Dirrane lived for the last eight years. “The Kennedys were very appreciative of her work for them, and they never forgot her. They wrote to her often, and she was visited regularly by Jean Kennedy Smith.” In 1966, after the death of her first husband, Ned Dirrane, Ms Dirrane returned to the Aran Islands to live with his brother, who she later married. When her second husband died, Ms Dirrane had her two wedding rings moulded together to symbolise her love for the two brothers. There were no children from the first marriage, but her second husband had three children when she married him. Ms O’Connor said they were “as close to her as if they were her own children”.
She was visited by Pat Kenny, Daniel O’Donnell and President Mary McAleese among many others over the last few years, and features on the leaving and junior certificate syllabi. In her autobiography, Ms Dirrane wrote that she did not leave any fortune for her descendants, only “the sunshine to the flowers, honey to the bees, the moon above in the heavens for all those in love, and my beloved Aran Islands to the seas”.
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