Aghyaran woman was the ‘heart and soul’ of her large family

AN era of hard work and immense devotion to family came to an end on August 7 with the death of Mary Penrose, the woman who brought the Penrose name to Aghyaran more than 60 years ago.

Born in 1936 to the late John and Bridget Moss, Mary left for Belfast as a teenager. There she met her future husband, Jimmy, and the couple were married in Ardoyne at Halloween 1959 before moving west to Tyrone to set up home.

Mary and Jimmy were blessed with 12 children, but the death of their son Brian was devastating. The family also endured two separate house fires. Yet there were happy times too, and it was those that family and friends chose to remember at Mary’s Requiem Funeral Mass in St Patrick’s Church, Aghyaran.

Her granddaughter Yvonne spoke on behalf of the family, describing Mary as ‘our leading lady and a huge part of Aghyaran’.

Her passing at the age of 88 has left her 43 grandchildren and 44 great-grandchildren heartbroken.

“Granny was the type of lady you thought would live forever,” Yvonne said. “She was the heart and soul of the Penrose family, the person who held us all together. She was so strong, but then I guess she had to be, as life was never easy for her.

“She worked hard on the farm from a very young age, never afraid to get stuck in. In her teens she went to Belfast, where she met our guardian angel, granda. An unbreakable bond was formed, and their love stood the test of time. Together they built a beautiful life here in Aghyaran. Family was everything to her – six boys and six girls, with twins in the mix, could certainly not have been easy.”

Mourners also heard how Mary’s kindness shone through in everything she did, and how she made each of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren feel special by remembering them all by name.

“Granny, you simply made the world a better place by being you,” Yvonne concluded.

Mary was predeceased by her husband Jimmy and son Brian (Geraldine). She is survived by her children Anne, Margaret (Hugh), Bridget (Josie), Gerard (Nuala), John (Rosanna), Jimmy (Mary), Michael, Paul (Carmel), Ann (Marty), Kathleen (Shane), and Josephine (Brian), as well as her 43 grandchildren and 44 great-grandchildren.