HILDA MADDEN:HILDA MADDEN, always known as Hillie, who has died at the age of 87, was a pioneer in the field of bereavement and grief counselling,
She was born in Belgrave Square, Rathmines, Dublin, where her father, the Rev Ernest Lewis-Cosby, was rector of Holy Trinity and later dean of Christ Church for 26 years. Her brother, Robin, became deputy governor of Bank of Ireland, served on the board of the Irish Times Trust and was president of the Royal Dublin Society.
She attended Wycombe Abbey Girls School in England until the second World War broke out. Her parents were concerned about the dangers from torpedoes when she was crossing the Irish Sea so she was transferred to Alexandra College in Dublin. At Trinity College, she studied social science, which was then a diploma course and went on to do a practical apprenticeship in London to become an almoner. Later, in the 1950s, she worked as an almoner at Peppard Hospital near Henley in England.
Her first husband was Michael (Mickey) Boyd who was an officer in the Irish Guards. He was the son of the Bishop of Killaloe and later Derry. They lived in England and Germany until Hillie contracted TB, which was potentially fatal.
However, she spent two years in Davos in Switzerland for treatment and recovery, separated from her husband and her two young sons. At the end of this time, she had recovered sufficiently to live with her husband and family when he managed to get a posting in Austria on compassionate grounds, before returning to live in England and in Germany.
Her husband resigned from the army in 1961 and they started a new life farming in south Kilkenny. But the farm failed, and she had to wind up the business. Mickey found work in the Middle East and she and the boys went to live with her mother in Dublin.
Her husband died in an accident abroad and she went to work for Guinness where she was appointed to be the first industrial medical social worker dealing primarily with widows and pensioners. She was a pioneer in this field of bereavement and grief counselling. She taught at UCD and because of being such a practical person with a direct approach to the subject, she was much appreciated by her students.
In retirement she assisted the SSAFA (Forces Help) and the Red Cross, and was for a time national president of the Girls Brigade. She was also an important figure within the Mothers Union and one of the supporters of Leopardstown Park Hospital
She married her second husband, Charles Madden, in 1971.
He suffered a stroke and she cared for him with great devotion for a number of years until his death.
She is survived by the two sons of her first marriage, and by her stepchildren.
Hilda Madden: born November 3rd, 1923; died July 20th, 2011