The untimely death of Priscilla Walsh Noble, director and former news editor of the Munster Express, was greeted by great sadness by her family, her many friends in Waterford and within the world of Irish regional journalism.
Born in 1955 at Cliff Grange, the Walsh family home in Tramore, she was the youngest daughter of the late JJ (editor and chairman of the Munster Express) and Josephine Walsh. She was steeped in the newspaper business and, even as a girl attending St Angela's Ursuline Secondary School, Priscilla was a familiar figure in the newspaper's offices, where most days she worked after school and during holidays.
A member of Tramore Tennis Club, she won many titles and competitions across the southeast and also played representative tennis for Munster and for Trinity College Dublin. At one point, she trained under Swedish world champion Björn Borg at a tennis academy at Puente Romano in Spain.
Priscilla studied at Rathmines College of Journalism in Dublin before going to Trinity. Having completed a BA in modern languages and fine arts, she joined the Munster Express on a permanent basis.
By the time she moved to London after her marriage to Peter Noble in 1988, Priscilla had blazed a trail for women journalists in regional newspapers. Their son Peter jnr was born in 1991.
Under the tutelage of her father, Priscilla became one of the first woman news editors in the country. Her brother Kieran is current editor of the Munster Express.
She was very efficient and hardworking, and enjoyed the respect and affection of staff. She had a warm personality and a wicked sense of humour that occasionally manifested itself in the pages of the newspaper.
A skilled writer, she had a keen eye for a good story and was a stickler for correct grammar and spelling. While in London, she remained a director of the company and continued to contribute articles of interest. On her visits home, she always sought out staff members for a chat and catch-up, and made a point of getting to know new employees.
JJ Walsh had the distinction of attending every Summer Olympic Games from 1936 in Berlin onwards and was only weeks away from attending Barcelona in 1992 when his final illness prevented him from making the journey. Priscilla attended the Olympics with her father from the 1970s on, including quite a few of the Winter Olympics, Soccer World Cups and European Championships as well.
It was her job to file extensive reports from the Olympic press villages to the Munster Express, where the games were covered to an extent not seen in other regional newspapers. Those were the days of poor international telephone connections and long before email and text but, whatever the difficulty, in time-honoured tradition she always got her copy in on time.
Priscilla loved Tramore and Waterford and was very proud of her native place. She was also very knowledgeable about the history of the city and county, and for many years was a committee member of the Waterford Literary and Historical Society. She lectured in fine art at Waterford Institute of Technology during the 1980s.
She enjoyed many happy holidays in Europe, armed with travel guides, reading up the history and local points of interest and eagerly passing on the information to her husband and son. Family was everything to Priscilla, followed by her love of Ireland, sporting events – especially tennis and rugby – and current affairs (she was always an avid reader of the Munster Express and The Irish Times).
–