A DONEGAL woman has celebrated her 107th birthday with a party organised by her three pensioner children.
Katie McMenamin from Rathmullan still loves to read novels and didn’t want to interrupt her bingo game yesterday when daughter Nora called to visit her at Áras Uí Domhnaill nursing home in Milford where she now resides.
At the age of 98 she visited Rome. And she visited Lourdes when 99 and Amsterdam at 101.
Last weekend there was a constant stream of family and friends to the nursing home to wish Katie well and she knew them all and chatted away.
On Friday, all the residents joined with Katie’s daughters, Nora and Mary, and her son Eugene, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and many friends to wish her well on her 107th birthday. Those unable to attend called this week to give her their best wishes and deliver cards and presents.
Katie received her seventh medal from President Mary McAleese on Friday.
Katie moved from her home in Rathmullan to Áras Uí Domhnaill earlier this year after a medical assessment showed she needed 24-hour care after a bout of shingles.
The unit is home to a number of Rathmullan residents and there are always neighbours popping in to visit and chat.
Born in 1904, Katie travelled to Derry after she left school to do a secretarial course. This led to work in post offices in Donegal.
She recalls shots being fired across Lough Swilly during the Civil War as well as the huge British army presence in the seaside village during the first World War.
In 1941, Katie married Paddy, the man she would share her life with for 58 years until he died in 1999.
She has seen Riverdanceand met the President and the papal nuncio. She boarded the Jeanie Johnstonwhen it visited Rathmullan for the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls in 2007.
Her recipe for a long life?
“I try to look after myself and my family are very good to me. I have never tasted alcohol and for many, many years Paddy grew all our own potatoes and vegetables,” says Katie.
She is one of the oldest citizens in the State, according to data provided by the Department of Social Protection.
There is one person in the country aged 109 receiving a pension and two others aged 108. Katie is the only 107-year-old on the books.