American left substantial sum to build library

An American left a fortune in her will to set up a public library in Ireland in memory of a Kerry teacher almost 40 years ago, State files reveal.

Eva C Greaney, a schoolteacher who lived in Holyoke, Massachusetts, left a substantial amount of cash for the State to carry out her last wish, documents released into the National Archives show.

The retired teacher, who died on April 20 1971, said her wealth should first be for the benefit of her surviving sister, Alice E Greaney, who also lived in Holyoke.

But she stated that on the death of her sister, a gift of more than 1,000 shares she held in General Motors be given to the Irish government to set up the John Nagle library.

Around that time, the shares were valued at 83,972 US dollars.

The will said the library was to be named “after John Nagle, an oft admired teacher of Dingle, Co Kerry”.

It was to be built in either Co Kerry or Co Cork, wherever the need was greatest.

The gift was to pass to the Irish state within five years of the death of her sister, according to copies of the will kept in files of the Attorney General’s office.

Until then it was to remain under the control of trustees at the First Bank and Trust Company of Hampden County in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The documents show that Irish diplomats attached to Chicago and Boston regularly signed statements of accounts, as required by the trustees, up until at least 1980.