The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Trailblazing chemist Mary laid to rest
A PIONEERING force in Irish healthcare as the first woman to open her own pharmacy and the matriarch of a family steeped in her beloved Fianna Fáil politics, Mary Brassil was laid to rest on Saturday amid great sadness from her native Farranfore to her adopted home of Ballyheigue.
Born Mary Ahern, she qualified as a chemist in 1956, opening her pharmacy in Ballyheigue just a year later as her Tralee native husband Noel opened his grocery shop alongside.
It was to prove a vital move for the community as Mary came to be seen as something much more than just a dispenser of medicine at a time when there was neither a doctor nor vet based there.
“People described her as a pharmacist first, then a doctor, then a veterinarian,” longest-serving member of staff at Brassil’s Pharmacy Dora James recalled.
“Really, she should have been a doctor as she was incredibly knowledgeable of medicine and veterinary.
“She was a fantastic woman to work for, she was like a second mother to me after my own mother died, always looking out for me as she did all her staff,” Dora said.
To her children Norma, Aileen and John she was a wonderful mother; a rock of support at their sides, often through the most difficult of times –not least Aileen’s tragic death in 1975 aged just 14; seven years after she was successfully operated on by the world famous heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard – in Cape Town – for a congenital heart problem.
The death of her husband, FF County Councillor Noel Brassil was another huge blow years later.
“Through all the ups and downs of life she was always there for Norma and me. She was an incredible mother in everyway,” Deputy John Brassil said.
One of the high points of her later years was seeing her son elected as her beloved party’s sole Kerry TD in 2016.
“She was a fanatical Fianna Fáil supporter, twice as bad as myself or my father! She had it in her blood from an early age.”
Though she played a huge role behind the scenes in North Kerry politics, it was for her professional work she was renowned locally. “She was hugely respected really, there with advice on medical issues and on animal health at a time when there was neither a doctor nor vet in the community,” John.
Even Ballyheigue’s long-time repeat summer visitors have been left deeply saddened.
“We have had so many tourists who couldn’t believe she was gone, people who’ve been coming to Ballyheigue for 30 years who said that ‘ever before Southdoc existed, she was our doctor!’” Dora said.
“Mary was far more than an employer to us all here, she was our counsellor and a great tutor who always encouraged us to take on new challenges and courses.” Indeed, under Mary’s guidance a number of local people qualified as pharmacists over the years.
“She ran her pharmacy with utmost dedication, working seven days a week, often 12 hours a day and took real pride in how well the pharmacy worked.
“Locums often remarked on how efficient and orderly the whole system worked,” Dora added.
Ms Brassil is survived by daughter Norma, son John, daughter-in-law Bernadette, son-in-law Colin; grandchildren Kieran, Hannah Ailleen and Kate Brash, Mary Anne, Noel and Lizzy Brassil, great-grandson Jake; brothers Fr John and Henry Ahern, sisters Margaret and Joan. Ms Brassil was predeceased by daughter Aileen, husband Noel and her sisters Noreen and Anne.