His grandchildren remembered Michael Healy as a small man who went about the farm with a heavy walkingstick and was quite stern with the small children. His Will, drawn up in 1879, gives us a clue to his personality. It is strong evidence of his love and care for his wife and family, and shows great precision in the arrangements made for the proper disposal of his estate. Other than this we know very little about him. There are no pictures and those who knew him are no longer here to tell us about him.

My mother spoke of Mary (her grandmother) after Michael's death. Mother and her brother like took turns staying with their grandmother at night. Mother hated the feather beds and often tried to bribe Mike to take her turn. Mary said her rosary each night before going to bed - and of course, it was said in Gaelic! This is how my mother remembered the Hail Mary:

"There will be Spany Lass tomorrow, How many will be there? I don't know and never asked, And don't ye!"

Recently, when in Ireland, I copied this out for a young nun at Loreto College in Dublin, who spoke fluent Gaelic. She said it was a remarkable "sound picture" of the Hail Mary in Gaelic.

When her son John died only 7 years after his father, Mary, now 70 years old, went to Kinkora to live with her daughter Maria. There she died in 1908 at the age of 90. Mary and Michael are buried in Mitchell. The grey tombstone reads simply:

Michael Healy - born 1808 - died 1883 - Co. Kerry Ireland 
Mary Healy    - born 1818 - died 1908 - Co. Kerry Ireland

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