Death of Daisy Smyth, age 104
The late Daisy Smyth.
One of Ireland’s oldest women has passed away. Daisy Smyth, from Ballyloskey, Carndonagh, was in her 105th year.
Her son, David (Davy) said his mother had a long life which she enjoyed to the full.
Mrs Smyth, who died in the early hours of Monday morning, had moved to Carndonagh when she was just seven years old, following the death of her parents. She never left.
Asked the secret of his mother’s longevity, Davy said she never drank nor smoked and only ate the food grown on the family farm.
“I suppose you could say she lived a healthy lifestyle.
“She looked after the house, and us children.
“It was a farm house and there was always plenty happening. She always worked hard.”
Daisy Smyth was mother of five, grandmother of 13, great grandmother of 27 and great, great grandmother of a little boy called Jacob.
On the occasion of her 104th birthday back in August, Daisy said ‘lots of tea’ was her great pleasure in life.
At that time she said she was happy to be in “good health” despite her years and that she enjoyed being taken out for a “wee run” in the car every day to get ice cream.
Daisy was born in Newtowncunningham in 1908, one of seven children of Ann and John Cresswell.
She lived with her family until she was around seven years old when tragedy struck the family. In 1915, were both her parents were struck down during the “bad flu” [epidemic] of that year and died soon afterwards.
The orphans were then separated and Daisy was sent to live with her aunt and uncle Liza and John McLaughlin in Carndonagh.
The other siblings were scattered among different members of the extended family and Daisy did not see them again until she was 61 years old when her brother John visited from California and a family reunion was organised.
Daisy married her late husband, David Smyth in 1935 and the couple had five children James, Greta, Ray, David and Maureen.
Her husband passed away in 1975 followed by the couple’s eldest son James several years ago.
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Weather for Donegal
Tuesday 21 May 2013
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