NOËLLE BRODERICK-FORDE:NOËLLE BRODERICK-FORDE, who has died aged 55, was a teacher at St Mary's national school, Belmont Avenue, Donnybrook, where she was held in high esteem by staff, pupils and parents alike.
Admired for her inspirational qualities, she set high standards for her pupils and led by example. Frobelian methodology was at the heart of her approach to teaching, and her classroom was active and vibrant.
Her special gift and enthusiasm for music encouraged generations of young singers, some of whom became professional musicians and singers. She trained school and parish choirs and was responsible for many memorable choral performances in Áras an Uachtaráin and the Mansion House.
She also prepared choirs for competition in Cór Fhéile na Scoileanna. Many former choristers returned each year to sing at Christmas Mass in Donnybrook parish church.
Her empathy with people and her compassionate response to local and international events prompted a personal response from her pupils. One such response was made in 2004 following the abduction in Iraq of Kenneth Bigley when, at her instigation, pupils wrote directly to his family in the UK.
Born in Dublin in 1955, she was one of four children of Paddy and Kathleen Broderick. She grew up in Tullamore, Co Offaly, and was educated locally and at the Ursuline Convent in Sligo. She studied at the Froebel College of Education, Sion Hill, and was awarded a B.Ed by Trinity College Dublin.
She taught in Kilbarrack for two years, 1977-79.
She took a year out to travel with Up with People, the young people’s entertainment group founded in the US in the 1960s. She visited north, south and central America with the group.
In 1981 she took up a position at St Mary’s in Donnybrook, where she taught until she took early retirement in 2007. Every Wednesday after school she entertained with song and music those attending the Sisters of Mercy St Mary’s day centre in Donnybrook. She also took a special interest in and provided friendship to residents in the nearby St Margaret’s residential home.
She was a finalist in the Housewife of the Year competition in the early 1990s. She and her husband Paul Forde, whom she married in 1984, were legendary hosts.
He observed this week that “being with Noëlle for the past 28 years has been like trying to keep up with a comet”.
The celebrant of her funeral Mass, Fr Pádraig Ó Cochláin, said: “Noëlle had a heart as big as the world. She embraced in her circle of friends the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the proud and the humble, judges and janitors, priests and politicians, surgeons and sinners.”
Her deep religious faith sustained her in dealing courageously with cancer during the last six years, and she and her husband regularly attended morning Mass.
Over the past decade she spent as much time as possible in Rome, where she made many new friends.
One such friend said recently: “Whenever Noëlle comes to Rome it is always a fiesta.”
She is survived by her husband Paul, sons Jonathan and Timothy, mother Kathleen, sister Mary and brothers Brendan and John.
Noëlle Broderick-Forde: born December 31st, 1955; died March 26th, 2011