Odd cigarette and G&T may be secret to Irene's longevity

By Denise McNamara

Irene Lynch, one of the daughters of the original Bodkin tribe of Galway, recently celebrated the milestone of reaching a centenary with her family in their Nuns Island home.

The secret to her longevity remains a mystery, as she has defied all the medical advice by enjoying a smoke and the very odd G&T.She loves nothing more than to be wheeled out by staff in the long-term residential unit at Merlin Park Hospital for a puff in the garden.Her only niece Mary O’Connor recalled how it had been foreseen that she was likely to follow in the footsteps of her brother, Michael Bodkin, who had died in his early 20s.

He was James Joyce’s Nora Barnacle’s first boyfriend and was the Michael Furey featured in Joyce’s novel, The Dead. In the book Michael Furey died after serenading his lover in the cold.

“Her grandmother used to say she wouldn’t make old bones. It was felt she was very fragile and not able for hard life. But she was out swimming in the sea in Salthill every day during the summer until well into her 80s,” she stated.

Irene was born in 1911 to Mary Elizabeth Francis and Leo Bodkin. She had one sister Violet.

After her parents moved to America, she was sent to live with her grandmother in Nuns Island and was educated in the Presentation primary school before becoming a boarder in Taylors Hill. She studied English in UCG and became an English teacher in secondary schools.

She married another teacher, Val Lynch, a native of Tuam and the couple spent most of their married lives working in schools in Belfast. They had one son, Patrick Lynch, who worked as a solicitor in Galway City before his retirement.

The family moved back to Galway in the 70s and lived in a house in the Fairlands in Newcastle. Her husband died around 30 years ago.Mary, who now lives in the Nuns Island home with her own family, routinely brings Irene out from Merlin Park to spend the day with them. She has lived in Unit 5 for the last five years.

“They had a cake for her and would have had a big party for her there but she didn’t want it - they’re very good to her there,” mused Mary.“She loves being in the garden. She absolutely loves animals and children. She’s an avid reader, she’d have two or three books on the go all the time. She liked Penny Apples by Bill Cullen and all the Maeve Binchys.

“Her mind is great, she’s in a wheelchair, she can’t hear too well but she can see everything. She’ll tell me my hair isn’t done properly.”Her family gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday on April 27. One of the guests was the pup, Bear, who had travelled all the way from Dublin to mark the occasion.