Maurice and Josie married at74 and 72
MATCHMAKING is alive and well in Ireland and living proof of this are Foulksmills couple Maurice and Josie O’Connor who found their perfect matches in each other when they married in 2001 aged 74 and 72.
Today Match.com and Tinder are all the rage, but this happy, loving couple met the old fashioned way, at a bar counter in Cassagh near New Ross, when a mutual friend Phil Cullen introduced them.
Maurice was a widower two years previously having lost his wife Elizabeth following a lengthy illness. Josie, a widow, lost her husband Matt Banville, six years previously following a ten-year battle with illness.
Born on December 4, 1926, Maurice endured a childhood of hard work and four mile walks to Meyler’s Park school, which has long since closed. A former Cushinstown hurler, he lived at Nash, Cassagh, for many years and married local woman Elizabeth Kinsella in 1953.
Maurice endured hard times and a lot of medical expense in the 1940s and 1950s as his mother and father needed long term care at the Houghton Hospital in New Ross.
At his home in Foulksmills cradling his walking stick, with his left hand knotted over his right, the 90-year-old recalls his first wife’s ill health and how the couple moved to Fethard-on-Sea where he worked for Dr Cox as a gardener and did different jobs in the village and for Wexford County Council.
He recalls how he turned to drink and readily admits that he drank too much on occasion.
He attended AA meetings and on a trip home from a meeting in Wexford one night he resolved to start AA meetings in the Hook.
‘ The house belonged to Con Power. A lot of families were saved because of that house as any husband that is drinking heavy causes people an awful lot of hardship.’
Elizabeth died in 1999 aged 82. ‘ She got a stroke. She was ill for an awfully long time and a nephew of hers, Michael Sinnott, who died last year, was the best in Ireland to me in every way.’
Some years later Maurice, who was a teetotaler by now, was invited by Mr Cullen to Morrissey’s pub in Cassagh for a chat. Little did he know that his friend had arranged for Josie Banville to be there also.
‘I was fairly lonely living on my own and I was struggling a bit. I got talking to her and I kinda knew her from before but I hadn’t seen her for years. We chatted and started going out dating and I took to the drink again. I went back on it for about two years but I never enjoyed it. An awful lot of fellas have a stigma about it but there is nothing to be ashamed of.’
He fell in love with Josie’s fun loving personality. ‘She was a good woman, warm and good craic and I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I was two years on my own and you are there all the night in your bed on your own. To meet someone like Josie lit up my life. I adore her.’
Josie reminded Maurice of his mother Ellen in some ways and he loved spending time with her.
‘We would watch TV and go to the Horse & Hound for dinner and enjoy each other’s company.’
Maurice joined the pioneers and wears his pioneers pin with pride every day.
After a few months of dating, Maurice went down on bended knee asked Josie to marry him at his house one Sunday night. ‘We had been chatting and I asked her to marry me. I thought she mightn’t because I was older than her. I was nervous and after my wife died I said I’d never marry again as I was so devastated. When she said yes there was a half tonne lifted off my shoulders because I had somebody to share my life with.’
Maurice married Josie at Glynn church on a glorious April day in 2001. ‘It was a lovely, fine morning and we had our breakfast at the Oak Tree Tavern and returned after the wedding and guests danced the night away.’
Looking back on his wedding day, Maurice said he never paid any mind to what people thought about his age at the time.
‘Some lads were happy for me and what other lads thought I don’t know. It was none of their business. I have no regrets and I’m enjoying old age. Some nights I don’t sleep so well with back pain but I will get over it.’
Josie, who hails from Ballymaclare, married
WE HAD BEEN CHATTING AND I ASKED HER TO MARRY ME. I THOUGHT SHE MIGHTN’T BECAUSE I WAS OLDER THAN HER
Matt Banville in 1951 at Ballykelly Church and the couple had a son, Laurence.
Matt suffered from ill health in later life and Josie cared for him. ‘I was killed, heartbroken when Matt died. I had looked after him for ten years.’
She recalls meeting Maurice, saying she immediately fell for his easy going charms. ‘He was on his own too as his wife was after dying. When he asked me to marry him I said “I might as well get married rather than living in sin”. The priest would go mad if he knew you were living with someone and weren’t married. They wouldn’t give you absolution. I love being married and we are company to one another. We have our arguments sometimes but sure everyone has arguments,’
The couple have lived in their cosy home in Foulksmills for 14 years and up until last year Maurice was gardening and working.
Every morning Josie brings Maurice porridge in bed followed by brown bread with butter and honey.
‘In return he does all the driving as my vision is impaired. We still go out for dinner.’
Maurice says he knows Elizabeth would be delighted that he found Josie, adding, ‘she would be happy for me to have someone’.