The woman thought to have been Ireland’s oldest resident “enriched the lives of so many”, her funeral Mass has heard.
A large crowd gathered in the Border village of Castlefinn, Co Donegal, to pay their respects to 109-year-old Ruby Druce, who died peacefully on Thursday. She was born in the village in 1915.
Among the items representing her life at her Mass were a photo of her 1956 wedding to her childhood sweetheart, Jim Druce, a symbol marking her love of boiled sweets, and her ninth centenarian medal sent by President Michael D Higgins for her most recent birthday last December. The robe she wore when christened in 1915 was placed atop her coffin.
Fr Ciaran Harkin said Ms Druce was “blessed with an extraordinarily long life” and will be remembered for her kindness, caring nature and sense of humour.
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“She enriched the lives of so many different people in so many ways … She had a great zest for life and took an interest in the lives of other people,” he said.
She “fought the good fight to the end, she ran the race and she certainly kept the faith”, he added.
[ ‘She lived on her own until she was 98’: Meet Ireland’s oldest womanOpens in new window ]
Martin Harran, Ms Druce’s nephew-in-law with whom she lived for the last months of her life, said he last stood at the pulpit of St Mary’s Church at her 100th birthday.
“The entire village turned out to celebrate with her and what was supposed to be a quiet cup of tea turned into a major logistical exercise,” he said.
“We never imagined that day that we would enjoy Ruby for another nine years,” he said, adding that he and his wife Carmel were “privilege[d]” to have her in their home.
A pioneer and a non-smoker all her life, she survived two global pandemics: the Spanish flu in 1918 and the recent coronavirus pandemic. She was vaccinated against Covid-19 at the age of 105.
