Ageless Anna enters 105th year
ANNA Maguire celebrated her 104th birthday surrounded by family and friends at her home in the Boyne Valley Nursing Home in Dowth at the weekend.
Born on May 24th, 1913, Anna has lived through momentous milestones in history including two world wars
Originally from Mornington, she was resident on Trinity Street in Drogheda for many years.
AMAZING Anna Maguire celebrated her 104th birthday surrounded by family and friends at her home in the Boyne Valley Nursing Home in Dowth at the weekend.
Born on May 24th, 1913, Anna has lived through momentous milestones in history including two world wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the introduction of the internet, smartphones and the television.
Originally from Mornington, Anna was born to parents Bernard and Margaret Lynch. She met her husband Joe when he was a bus driver on the Enniskillen to Drogheda route.
The job meant Joe had to stay in town overnight as the return journey was too long to do in a day and the couple met that night at a dance in Kings Hall.
After falling in love and deciding to marry, Joe secured a job as a mechanic in the Irish Oilcake factory.
Although she had enjoyed a relatively affluent and privileged upbringing, Anna settled in happily to life in Laytown with Joe where she ran the local shop, Swan Stores and it was here that her three sons Frank, Brian and Seamus (RIP) were born. ‘My life was a poor life, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I was happy as the day is long,’ Anna previously told the Drogheda Independent. ‘Even if I had to have had thousands I wouldn’t have been as happy.’
Anna moved from Laytown to Trinity Street and her neighbours at McCloskey’s bakery send a delicious birthday cake to her every year to enjoy with her family, friends and all the staff at the Boyne Valley Nursing Home.
She was joined on Saturday by a number of her family members, including her son Frank, great grandaughter Lacey Maguire, grandaughter Eleanor Maguire, grandaughter Catherine Maguire, grandson Joe Maguire and nephew Brendan Clinton in Boyne Valley Nursing Home Dowth.
Anna’s life was nothing if not eventful and there are pictures of Anna during the war in a figher jet which landed in a field close owned by her father close to her home in East Meath. Always feisty and independent, Anna lived on her own until she was 98.
Anna says there’s no simple secret to living a long and happy life but believes the fact that she rarely drank and never smoked, always ate healthily and maintained a positive attitude always has helped her reach the milestone age of 104 with an unquenchable lust for life intact.
‘She had a great day, she was absolutely delighted with the party and she’s on a high from the whole thing,’ said Maeve Quinn from the Boyne Valley Nursing Home. ‘She enjoyed every minute of the celebrations and was in great form all week, we thought she might be tired by it all but no, she loved all the excitement. She’s an amazing lady. McCloskey’s Bakery made her a fantastic cake as they do every year and the girls were telling me that even when she was 98 she would still pop in every day to say hello.’
It’s clear staff at the Boyne Valley nursing home are doing something right as Anna isn’t the first resident to pass the 100 year milestone; they’ve had three residents celebrate birthdays over the age of 100 in the past 20 years.