MARY SHANAHAN: MARY SHANAHAN, who has died aged 96, was a dairy farmer and poultry producer, a prominent member of the Irish Countrywomen's Association for half a century, a former tax inspector, an amateur actor, and a member of the Farm Apprenticeship Board.
Born in Waterford city, she believed in speaking her mind and living life to the full. To celebrate her 90th birthday, she arrived at the party draped on the bonnet of a vintage Rolls Royce, sipping champagne.
Relishing a new challenge, she was well into her 90s when she took up French. Up to shortly before her death, and all of 77 years after learning to drive, she continued to drive the 6.5km (four miles) to and from the weekly French classes in Waterford.
Educated at the Ursuline Convent in Waterford, she joined the Civil Service and was promoted to junior tax inspector. Under the restrictive regime of that era, she was forced to resign on marrying her husband, Gerard, who worked for the Electricity Supply Board.
On leaving the public service, she turned to farming the 54-acre farm, Hilltop, at Killotteran where she had been raised by three aunts and an uncle after both her parents had died when she was a year old.
It was a dairy farm but she also produced poultry for the commercial market. That could be a precarious business and on one occasion when it seemed she might be left with 200 ducks on her hands, the crisis was averted when a hotel sent out an SOS for ducks and snapped up the lot.
A progressive farmer, she was appointed to the Farm Apprenticeship Board, the forerunner of Teagasc, a position she held for 12 years. Among her achievements were that she succeeded in introducing regulations to protect female apprentices from being exploited by farmers. In recognition of her service on the board, she received a presentation from the then minister for agriculture, Joe Walsh.
Her journalist daughter, Ella, formerly of The Irish Times,was Ireland's first female agricultural correspondent. Her other daughter, Frances, works in RTÉ, chiefly on agri-programmes; and her son, Michael, is a farmer.
Active in the ICA at local and national level, she helped reform its rules and structures. As a member of an EEC (European Economic Community) seeds committee, she sought to prevent the loss of local grain varieties. She also represented Ireland at a United Nations food and agriculture conference in Rome.
In Waterford, she was a founder member of the country markets. When the fledgling Neighbourhood Watch organisation was being set up in Butlerstown, she helped convince elderly neighbours (all of them younger than herself) to accept emergency phones and similar aids.
As an early member of the Waterford Dramatic Society, she could genuinely claim that the celebrated performer Anna Manahan was her understudy in Blithe Spirit.With others she founded the Dolmen history group, which publishes a journal of recollections of the Déise. Her final contribution, recalling her childhood days in Butlerstown school, will be in the next edition.
Predeceased by her husband, Gerard, she is survived by daughters Ella and Frances, sons Michael and Eddie, and first cousin Kevin McKay.
Mary T Shanahan: born June 19th, 1914; died April 21st, 2011