Death of devoted mother causes outpouring of grief in Offaly

THE late Geraldine Daly (nee Recks) died peacefully at home in Gortacur, Mount Bolus, on 13 November last surrounded by her family.

Geraldine was the wife of Declan Daly and mother of Aisling, Sean, Edel, Mary, Joseph and Kevin. Geraldine had suffered a series of health incidents since 2010, culminating in a recent stroke on the October bank holiday weekend, from which she was unable to recover. She was a kind, thoughtful person, highly regarded by all her knew her. The priorities in life for Geraldine were her family and her religion.

Geraldine and Declan met in the Harriers in Tullamore. This past May they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. Geraldine and Declan moved into their house in Gortacur in October 1988, just weeks before Aisling was born.

Geraldine lived a simple life, happy with home, family, and church, but was absolutely determined that her children would have the best possible start in life.

She herself had graduated from Athlone Institute of Technology in Business Studies and encouraged all her children to pursue a college education. She lived long enough to see the last boy, Joseph finish his Master’s degree and receive his marks, but not to see him graduate. Although not a GAA player herself, from the time her eldest boy, Sean, began playing hurling, she could be see chauffeuring boys and girls to trainings and matches.

She became immersed not only in her children’s matches, but also K/K adult matches. After college, Geraldine worked in Burlington’s until Ashling arrived, when she retired from paid employment.

She finally returned to the work force when the youngest three were in Mount Bolus National School, but only part-time, so she could drop the children off to school, and collect them when school was out.

While the children were in Mount Bolus, she served in the Parents’ Association. When her children were in Killoughey Badminton Club, she could always be relied on to fulfill her turn on the supervision roster. When asked, she served the community in other ways, but would never go looking for community work.

Geraldine had a very strong religious belief, and the one time she did put herself forward was to become a Eucharist Minister in Mount Bolus Catholic Church where she served until ill health forced her to retire. Her religious belief sustained her in her illnesses and her family never heard her complain.

Geraldine was looking forward to the birth of her first grandchild when she passed away. The last two social events she attended were son Kevin’s college graduation ceremony and the baby shower in anticipation of Aisling’s baby.

She will be sadly missed by her family in Gortacur, her brother, Ronnie, and her sister, Miriam, her extended family in Clara and surrounds, and by all who knew her. May she rest in peace.