Mrs Margaret Ferris

THE community in and round Drumaness is mourning the death of Mrs Margaret Ferris, who passed away recently. She was 82.

Born on a Palm Sunday, April 9, 1933, Madge, as she was most fondly known, was the eldest daughter of the late Edward and Margaret Nixon, Loughinisland.

She is survived by her six sons, Paddy, John, Malachy, Brendan, Paul and Mark, her three daughters, Margaret, Noeleen and Rhona, 24 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren and her brother, Sammy Nixon, from Crossgar.  She is predeceased by her late husband, Jack, brothers Jimmy and Ted, and sisters Maureen and Rosaleen.

Growing up as a child in wartime years Madge learned the importance of caring for what she had.  Through good times and hard times, Madge strove to make the best of all she had and used it to rear a family of six boys and three girls.  Family life was of great importance to her, as well as a bite on the table, a coat on your back and a roof over your head.

She spoke with great affection of growing up in the small hamlet of Loughinisland, the place where she was born, went to school, made her first friends, made her First Holy Communion and Confirmation and where on October 29, 1958, where she married her late husband, Jack. 

Moving to the neighbouring district of Drumsnade she began her new life. After about four years she and Jack moved to the Drumaness Road where she would live out the rest of her life rearing and caring for her family.

She would tell stories of growing up; leaving school at the young age of 13 and going to work in Drumaness Mill under the management of the late James Hurst. There would be fond memories of her youth, of going to dances in Ardtana Hall, Dunmore Hall and Loughinisland.

The young people who grew up in the village of Drumaness recalled her generosity and motherly way when she worked in the local fish and chip shop and in the Park House Inn. As one lad, “she knew how to pile on the chips.”

She also played her part in caring for the elderly, bringing many a Sunday lunch to those who hadn’t anyone to cook for them.  In September 1990 Madge went to work as a cleaner in the Assumption Grammar School, Ballynahinch until she retired in 2008.

Madge died peacefully at her daughter’s residence after a short illness. Her largely attended funeral illustrated her popularity within the community. Interment took place in the cemetery of St John the Baptist, Drumaroad.