Mary Doyle was known for her kindness, her great cooking and her love of fashion

THE family, neighbours and friends of the late Mary Doyle, Carrigeen, Baltinglass, Co Wicklow will gather in St Joseph’s Church, Baltinglass on Saturday 1 August at 6 pm for Mary’s first anniversary Mass. Mary passed away on Thursday 24 July 2025 in North Tyneside General Hospital, Newcastle in Englanld, surrounded by her loving family.

Mary had been visiting her son, Mark and daughter, Ann and their respective families in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne when she suddenly took ill and was hospitalised. Sadly over the course of the next six weeks her condition deteriorated, leading to her death. Unfortunately, during this period in hospital in Newcastle, she wasn’t well for long enough to be repatriated home. She had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease a number of years earlier.

The former Mary Murphy was born into a farming family in Tullow, Co Carlow on 2 September 1941, daughter of Jimmy and Annie (née Byrne) Murphy. When Mary was a young girl, the family moved to Coltstown, Castledermot where they continued to farm.

Mary was educated at primary level in Castledermot National School and at secondary level in St Leo’s College, Carlow. After her school days, Mary trained as a nurse in St Michael’s Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin and went on to nurse in Baltinglass District Hospital until her marriage to farmer Frank Doyle. Frank and Mary met at a dance in Baltinglass Golf Club and, following a brief courtship, they wed in The Church of the Assumption, Castledermot. Mary had to retire from nursing because of the marriage bar enforced at the time on women who worked in the public service. However, having been born into a farming life, Mary adjusted seamlessly to her new work environment on the Doyle dairy farm.

Noted as a great cook, Mary’s culinary skills were highlighted by the quality and quantity of Christmas cakes she baked for family, neighbours and friends every festive season. A mother of seven children, she was at the centre of the Doyle family life. Mary was talented at nurturing sick calves and cows back to good health. She is remembered with great affection as a woman of great style and elegance, full of life and with a kind and generous nature. She had a great sense of fashion and one of the great joys of her life was to go dancing with husband Frank.

She was bereaved by the death of her son Jim in November 2003 while husband Frank passed away on 24 November 2017, at the age of 81.

Requiem Mass for Mary Doyle was celebrated by Fr John Heinhold, PP, Baltinglass, followed by burial in Baltinglass cemetery. Mary is survived by her daughters Marie Nolan (Blackrath, Co Kildare), Ann Keane (Newcastle, UK), Fiona Lambe (Midleton, Co Cork), sons Francis (Tankardstown, Baltinglass), Paddy (Carrigeen, Baltinglass) and Mark (Newcastle, UK). She is also mourned by her adored and treasured grandchildren Fionn, Conn, Adam, Josh, Jessica, Tomás, Cian, Marcas, Grace, Jasmine, Noah, Eric, Charlotte, Oliver and Scarlett.

Mary is also survived by her sisters Monica Cassels (Ricketstown, Rathvilly) and Brenda Byrne, (Castleroe, Maganey) and brother Seamus Murphy (Coltstown, Castledermot), daughters-in-law/sons-in-law Dorothy, Catherine, Rosemary, Seamus, Joe and Barry, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, neighbours and friends.

Mary’s family has extended sincere thanks to her primary carers Trish, Denise and Tracey, all the staff at North Tyneside General Hospital, Newcastle along with her neighbours and friends for their kindness at a time of great loss to the Doyle and Murphy families.

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