Violet McDowell: VIOLET MCDOWELL, who has died aged 99, was the owner of Gray's Guest House at Dugort, Achill Island. Active to the end, she continued to cook and care personally for her guests. She ascribed her long life to "being happy".
In 2006 she was named Host of the Year in Georgina Campbell's Ireland. Campbell said the guest house epitomised a "quiet and gentle style of hospitality that has all but disappeared". And she praised "Auntie Vi", as she was widely known, describing her as an "extraordinarily interested and hospitable hostess".
She and her husband Arthur set up the guest house in her former family home in 1970, after he retired from his position as a branch manager with the Ulster Bank. She continued to run the business following his death in 1995.
Born in 1910, she was the youngest of the five children of William Robert Gray and Rebecca McNally, who lived at the foot of Slievemore Mountain. Her mother’s ancestors on both sides, Sheridans and McNallys, had arrived on Achill as part of a Protestant mission established by Rev Edward Nangle.
Her grandmother was a descendant of the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
In her early years Violet saw little of her father, who was serving with the British army. A comrade and friend of TE Lawrence, author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, he carried out a survey of Egypt based on aerial photographs of battle sites.
She was educated at the local national school, after which a governess took over her studies. She learned to play the piano and how to type, and received instruction in nature studies.
During the War of Independence the premises were commandeered by the IRA, but neither she nor her family came to any harm.
In 1940 she married Arthur McDowell, accompanying him on his various postings in provincial Ireland – Dundalk, Killeshandra, Tuam and Ballina. Living for six years in a “beautiful house” at Bohernasup that she would never forget, she “loved” Ballina.
Gray's Guest House is an unusual establishment, occupying a series of houses with a central, traditionally furnished sitting room with an open fire for socialising. Auntie Vi was a welcoming hostess and guests, who included legal figures, writers, clerics and artists, returned year after year to sample the hospitality. Paul Durcan – "a good man" – was a regular visitor, and presented her with a poem Violetas a birthday present:
Violet is the crimson dot in the
black wilderness of Achill
The detail in the epic.
A tireless hostess and storyteller, she oversaw the guesthouse assisted by her long-time companion and friend Margaret McLoughlin, niece Dorrie Darlington and loyal staff. She took an active interest in the maintenance of the buildings and grounds.
The Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, Right Rev Dr Richard Henderson, last year described her as “clearly a very remarkable lady indeed, knowledgeable of all sorts and conditions, and most wonderfully hospitable”. He recalled that she invariably invited him in for a “cup of tea”, always serving the “most magnificent spread” of which a cup of tea was “but a very modest part”.
Her interest in the arts led her to restore the former schoolhouse in Dugort as a venue for exhibitions and readings, naming it after her brother Cyril. She supported the refurbishment of the former Achill Island home of the German Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll, which is now a haven for writers and artists.
She was in charge of hospitality at the official opening in 2005 of the cottage, catering for over 100 guests.
She took part in many outings with bank retirees to scenic parts of Ireland. In the course of her travels she met the singer Daniel O’Donnell and became a dedicated fan.
As a girl she played the organ at St Thomas’s Church, and throughout her life was very proud of the Church of Ireland and its traditions.
Ecumenical in outlook, she said of her Catholic neighbours: “There isn’t much between us. We are all one, really.”
She is survived by her devoted friend Margaret, niece Dorrie and nephews Jeff and Robbie.
Violet Maud Hannah McDowell: born February 27th, 1910; died August 24th, 2009