Tributes paid to an inspirational woman

Tributes paid to an inspirational woman

30 July 2014

IRELAND’s oldest person — a beloved great-great-grandmother who lived a worry-free life of faith has been laid to rest.

Mrs. Elizabeth Heaney, known as Lizzie, passed away in her home town of Ballynahinch on Saturday at the age of 108.

The mother of seven from the Belfast Road also had 14 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. A well-known figure in the town, Mrs. Heaney drove up until she turned 100 and until recently would have been at Mass every day.

Baptised at St. Patrick’s Church, Ballynahinch over 100 years ago, it was here she was finally laid to rest yesterday.

Having attracted some attention after becoming the oldest person in Ireland in February last year, Canon Gerard McCrory said many local people were upset to hear she had died. He extended his sympathy to her wide family circle and friends.

“She would be one of the few people living in this area whose name certainly would be known far and wide,” he said.

“I’ve always been told that one of the reasons she lived so long was that she never worried about things, she had a very strong faith in God.

“She was very fortunate that she finished her life living in her own home, she was well attended by her family and was well cared for.”

He added: “It was nice for me as a parish priest to be able to say to people, ‘I’m looking after the oldest person in Ireland’.”

Canon McCrory said Mrs. Heaney attributed her long life to the fact that she never worried about anything.

“Elizabeth was a very gentle person,” he said. “She never let anything worry her, she took everything in her stride.

“So many of us get stressed these days and that can impact our health — Elizabeth didn’t get stressed.

“She had a strong faith in God and up until quite recently would have been at Mass every day.”

Last year Mrs. Heaney was hailed as Ireland’s oldest practising Catholic by the church.

St. Patrick’s where she attended as a child is also where she later married her husband James, who had a farm. They had six girls — Mary, Ann, Evelyn, Margaret, Sheila and Kathleen, and one son James. 

Even when living in Dunmore for a time during her married life she always attended church within the Ballynahinch parish.

She became a widow in 1977 but retained her sociable personality and was a well-known face around the town.

Following the announcement of Mrs. Heaney’s death the Down Recorder Facebook page was flooded with hundreds of condolences.

One woman wrote: “God bless an absolute lady. The people of Ballynahinch will definitely miss you; everyone held you in such high regard and it actually made me proud to come from the same town as you. God bless and take care xx.”

Another wrote: “So sad to hear this. I’m so honoured to have known her and spent the time to listen to her wonderful stories.”

“A truly remarkable lady in her day. I can remember her driving to mass in Ballynahinch chapel well into her nineties. May she Rest In Peace,” said another local resident.

The oldest living Irish-born person is County Clare woman Kathleen Snavely who is 112. She emigrated to the US in 1921.

The oldest Irish woman on record remains Annie Scott, who was born in Northern Ireland in 1883 and died in Scotland in 1996 at the age of 113.