Childhood memories return after sad passing of Aggie O’Brien
Aggie O’Brien’s was firm favourite for a generation
FOR years and years, it seemed young people around Drogheda - and further afield - lived on Aggie O’Brien’s chips.
Each school lunchtime, the rush would start, and they’d head for George’s Street, the whiff of vinegar and an aroma of frying chips entering the nostrils long before the dashing feet would trod upon the sacred ground of Aggie’s place.
Her death last Saturday ended a little bit of everyone’s childhood.
Indeed, even know, so many years after she left the business, Dominic’s is still regarded as ‘Aggie O’Brien’s’ - a bit confusing for the younger folk.
The story of O’Brien’s or Mullens as it was also associated with, began about 1900 and ran to 1980.
In that time, Aggie’s grandmother and mother, operated a small confectionary shop, the place growing into an institution in town.
In the early years, it was a modest concern, but in the mid 60s, Aggie and husband, Jim Kelly, renovated the place and Aggie’s chips became the most famous in town - and that was some achievement!
The new shop front was put up and they built a house at the side, which became the family home.
Aggie once described the shop as a ‘ hole in the wall’ but for a generation of people it was much more than that.
Her thriving business caught the attentiom of two Dublin men in January of 1980. They had a look around and liked what they saw. They offered a price for the business and the deal was done. Aggie’s was going Italian!
Aggie and Jim moved to a home in Maple Drive that had belonged to Tony and Mary Smith, who in turn took up residence in a new house on the Seapoint Road in Termonfeckin.
Aggie Kelly was in her 97th year when she passed away on Saturday at Gormanston Wood Nursing Home.
Loving wife of the late Jim, she will be sadly missed by her loving family and a large circle of friends.
Her removal is on Tuesday at 11.30am, from Gerrard’s Church on Mary St, arriving for Requiem Mass at 12 o’clock in the Dominican Church. Burial afterwards in St Peter’s Cemetery.