The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

and his family and Uncle Tom and Aunt Ann are doing.
* In March 1966, Aunt Nora writes thanking Patsy for a St.
Patrick’s Day card. “Hope you get that Irish flag outside
your window on St. Patrick’s Day,” she writes. “You will
make an Irishman of Leon yet.”
* At another time, a letter to Patsy told her for the first time
about the practice of Stations in Ireland. It was a holdover
from when celebrating the Catholic Mass in Ireland was
forbidden. A family hosting Stations in their home would
welcome the local priest for a Mass, followed by a festive
meal for family and neighbors. The white linen tablecloth
used for such occasions in the Gallagher home was sent to
Patsy by cousin Maureen Gallagher after Uncle Owen died.
* In her July 1975 letter in response to Aunt Delia’s death,
Aunt Nora extends an invitation to County Meath native
Uncle Mike that if he ever comes to Ireland again, “don’t
forget to give us a call. You are always welcome.” Uncle
Mike finally did make that trip back to Ireland with son
John in 1977.
* In 1976, Nora apologizes to Patsy for not sending
shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day but says they “completely
left my mind after your mother died.” Nine months or so
had passed, but her older sister’s death, and the welfare of
the rest of the family, were very much in Nora’s thoughts.
“How are the rest of the crew?” she asks about the other
Gallaghers in America. “None of them (are) coming home
this summer. I wish some of them come.”
In that letter, and a number of others, Nora
comments on how she is glad a long, hard winter has
passed. She seems to be growing weary in her eighth
decade, but still finds comfort with the coming of Easter.
* On a few occasions, Aunt Nora would mention politics,
both Irish and American, in her letters. When Jimmy Carter
was elected U.S. president in 1976, Nora writes, “I do hope
he will be a true and good man.” About four years later, she
notes Ted Kennedy was challenging the incumbent Carter.
In June 1977, she mentions Ireland was having an
election in a few days’ time, but she was apparently
unimpressed with any candidate. “It’s the same old story,”
she writes. “‘Vote for me! Vote for me!’ It doesn’t make
much difference to a lot of people who gets in. The rich get
richer and the poor get poorer all the time.” She does say
she would like to see the country doing well, adding, “I’d
be happy if England were kicked out of the North.”
Aunt Nora was realistic when it came to world
A recent photo shows Aunt Nora and Pat Murphy's
home, the right half of the duplex, with the walled yard.
It is in the 'back cottages' area of New Street.
leaders. And she had lived through enough hard times not
to expect too much. But she was not without hope. Pope
John Paul II was the first head of the Catholic Church ever
to come to Ireland when in 1979 he visited Dublin,
Drogheda, Clonmacnoise, Galway, Knock, Limerick and
Maynooth from Saturday, Sept. 29, to Monday, Oct. 1. The
visit marked the centenary of the apparitions at the Shrine
of Knock in August 1879.
“The pope’s visit … did a lot of good in a lot of
ways,” Aunt Nora writes that year. She is cautious,
however. “But trouble is still on in the North, and I’m
afraid it’s not going to stop until it does harm. May God
bless our country.” The latest Catholic-Protestant
“Troubles” in Northern Ireland, which began in the late
1960s, did in fact go on to do harm for almost two more
decades before the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998
brought a period of relative peace to the land.
* In November 1976, Nora writes to congratulate John
O’Brien on his marriage to Cindy McClafferty. “It’s grand
to know he is getting such a nice girl. May God bless them
for the rest of their lives.” In 1979, Nora is happy to hear
John and Cindy are doing well. “It would be nice to have a
house with a couple of acres of land,” she notes. “He
couldn’t have better than land; it’s always going up in
price.”
* The biggest regret that comes through in Aunt Nora’s
letters is she did not have the chance to meet her nieces and
nephews from America. Yet she never loses hope. In the
latest letter we have from Aunt Nora, from 1979, she tells
Patsy she is sure her children are growing up fast. “How I’d
love to see them,” she adds. “I never saw Jim’s children
either. May God bless them all. And, who knows, maybe
I’ll see you all someday, Please God.”
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