Warm wishes as duo retire from St Mary’s
FRIENDS and colleagues past and present gathered in the Ashdown Park Hotel, Gorey, recently to celebrate the retirement of Denise Buckley and Eileen Dunbar from St Mary’s College in Arklow.
Eileen and Denise retired from St Mary’s in June but were delighted to be reunited with colleagues and retired staff for a night of celebration and nostalgia as everybody looked back on the wonderful careers of the two gifted teachers who gave so many years of service to St Mary’s.
Denise Buckley began her teaching career at St Mary’s in 1981, which coincided with the centenary of both the school and the arrival of the Mercy Order in Arklow. She was the first lay Religion teacher and became a leader of faith who played a powerful role in shaping attitudes, opinions and behaviours.
She did this through her innovative curricular and extra curricular activities in both of her subject areas, Religion and English. Beautiful liturgies, prayer services and graduation banners have become hallmarks of her time in St Mary’s.
Denise was passionate about educating students about the voluntary and community organisations locally and abroad and led their involvement in projects in India and Gambia, along with local initiatives such as Age Action, Darkness into Light and TY Community Care. She held various posts of responsibility, in more recent years she served as a Year Head and her door was always open to her students – to listen to them and to push them to do their best.
Eileen Dunbar (affectionately known to her colleagues and many students as Lady Dunbar) taught English and History during her 36 years in St Mary’s – a time of great curricular change, all of which Eileen embraced, including being one of the first teachers to teach the new Junior Cycle in 2013 when English was rolled out.
She had a great love of literature and of the past, which she imparted to her students along with her demand for both thoroughness and creative expression. Among the many posts of responsibility duties performed by Eileen during her career were Year Head, public speaking and debating, PRO, organising foreign trips and, more recently, she was responsible for the design and refurbishment of the school library.
Her colleagues valued her advice and collaboration and the style and professionalism she brought to all areas of her work.
The staff and management of St Mary’s were also delighted to be able to formally acknowledge the departure of Mairead McKenna and pay tribute to her for her 16 years teaching Music and Religion. Mairead also achieved great success with the school musicals and choirs at both the Arklow Music Festival and Feis Cheoil, most notably winning and retaining the Turner Huggard Cup.
She also served as Year Head and on the night, Mary O’Donnell presented her with tributes and gifts from her Form 5 year group, who were eager to bid a fond farewell to Ms McKenna.
Eileen, Denise and Mairead all spoke warmly of their time in St Mary’s during their own speeches after which they were each presented with flowers and a gift from the staff. The school wishes the retirees a long, happy and healthy retirement and continued success to Mairead in her teaching career.