In Memory of Mai Houlihan

Last September while traveling Ireland we spent two nights in Castletownbere, County Cork, Ireland. The first night of our visit to this lovely small town we were eating dinner at Niki's Restaurant when we meet four ladies celebrating a birthday. One of the ladies was Mai Houlihan and it was her 87th birthday. After my husband and I finished our dinner I approached the ladies and asked if they would like for me to take photos of them. They were delighted so I took several pictures and we struck up a conversation. The first thing one of the ladies said when we stood up was "Is that lovely tall man yours?" I replied, 'tis. I thought that was such a nice thing to say to a stranger. That's the way the people are in Ireland, very friendly. So we talked a bit and then they asked if we wanted to join them in some wine but we said we didn't want to intrude into their celebration and that we were going two doors down to McCarthy's Bar and they said that after dinner they were going there as well. So we said we would meet them later. They said they would be there to listen to the band. We waited awhile and had a few drinks but we couldn't stay up any longer and went to our B&B. The next day the weather was horrible and we decided to go hang out at McCarthy's Bar. We arrived there about 10:00 a.m. and had tea and an hour or so later one of the ladies that was at the birthday celebration the night before came in (Mrs. McCarthy, she is the mother of the bar owner). Mrs. McCarthy said the group of ladies did move their party down to the pub and party some more. She said Mai was singing with the band. We were sorry we missed out on the ‘craic’.

So why am I writing all of this now? Well on Monday we received a card from Patricia Murphy one of the ladies at the birthday celebration and the person we had sent the photos to. Ms. Murphy said that in January Mai Houlihan had passed away from a bout of pneumonia. We were saddened by this news. Mrs. Murphy said “the photos we sent are the only ones of ‘our night out’ and the only recent ones of Mai”. She said that the ladies were very grateful to us for taking the photos. I got a really good feeling by her comment and was so glad we took the time to talk with the ladies and take the photos.

Ms. Murphy said that Mai “was a good age (87) in September. She enjoyed singing and partying and even though her repaired hip, was painful, she was in good form always.” I hope when I get to be the ‘good age’ of 87 I am in good form and partying like Mai.

Mai Houlihan 1918 – 2005
 
r.m.