Both Margie Connolly’s late brother, Eugene, and her uncle Joe, wanted her to tell people about a place in Co Galway that was very close to their hearts.
So, when she wrote a book recently, she named it after that area, the Landing Pier in Barna, close to where she grew up and lived all her life. And she dedicated it to Eugene, who lost his life in a drowning accident in Silverstrand in 1983 when he was just 20 years old. Sadly, their mother, Bridie, died two years later.
“It was a goal of mine for years to write a book,” says Margie, a former teacher and deputy principal of Salerno Secondary School in Salthill. “I always said I would write something in memory of Eugene.”
He occupies a special place in her heart to this day. Her only brother, (she has three sisters, including the late Marie ) he was studying business and communications at the then Galway Regional Technical College and had just completed his course.
“He was a great character, full of fun,” she says. “He was big into drama and communications and dreamed of becoming an actor. The local GAA club used to run [drama] competitions locally and he’d be up on stage. He liked to write, as well.”
She describes his death as the “cruellest of storms”. A few hours after he passed away, she recalls her devastated mother noticing a butterfly in their kitchen and saying the words which Margie will never forget: ‘Look at the butterfly, we are in angel time’.
“The wailing quieted as the most beautiful butterfly appeared in the kitchen of pain and circled my devastated mother. Mysteriously, in that moment, our soul’s pain began its journey from brokenness to healing, carried on wings of hope that bridged the worlds of earth and heaven, which had just opened in our shattered lives.” Interestingly, her late father, Owen, a deeply spiritual man of the land, said when he was sowing crops earlier in the year that Eugene died, he had a premonition. “He saw something, he got a warning [of his son’s passing].”
Warm embrace
As her family grappled with their loss, they were encircled by the warm embrace of family, friends, and neighbours. “So many kind people entered our lives over the next few days, bandaging us with love, support, and care,” says Margie.
“I remember clearly our family friend, Kathleen, as she arrived in our kitchen, laden with shopping bags. Soon, the aroma of home cooking filled the air, breathing into us the will to eat again. Her presence was like a balm on an open wound. To this day, I carry loving gratitude in my heart towards family, friends, and colleagues who carried us in their own boats through our sea of heartbreak. Their abundance of care and shelter was a lighthouse to us, illuminating our paths forward until we were able to again navigate our seas of life.”
She hopes her book, in which she shares the life lessons she learned, will celebrate Eugene’s life. “Though his sudden parting broke our hearts, his presence has remained so close. Through the pages of my book, I hope to honour the seeds of inspiration he quietly sowed when, before he died, he gifted me with a framed photo of the place we, as children, knew as Céibh na gCurach [the Landing Pier].
“Years later, shortly before his own passing in February 2020, Uncle Joe [Hernon, to whom she was particularly close] echoed Eugene’s gesture, asking me to write about this sacred place. ‘I would love you to tell people about the Landing Pier – where we, fishermen, always had a safe and welcoming coming ashore’, he said.”
Margie was true to their wishes and when she decided to compile a book of her reflections, which is steeped in the wisdom of a life lived with intention, gratitude, and curiosity, she paid tribute to both Eugene and Joe in it. She feels immensely close to them when she sits quietly at the pier, watching the rhythm of the sea with its consistent ebb and flow, all the while conscious of a power greater than herself, she says.
“The pier holds me in stillness and safety, much like the fishermen who found safe landing here after their time at sea. In this holy place, surrounded by the echoes of the past, I always feel graciously connected to Eugene and Joe’s spirits. It’s like I’m being plugged into generational love, it’s a place of peace and beauty.”
Imaginary pupils
The sea has been the backdrop to Margie’s life since she was born, it was literally at her back door. Her parents often reminded her that as a child she was happiest sitting among the stones on the shore, teaching her imaginary pupils.
“It was here that my teacher’s heart first awakened. The shore was more than a landscape, it was the heartbeat of my childhood. It was our playground, a place of adventure, of discovery, of belonging. As we played among the rocks, our eyes were always drawn to the horizon, watching for the return of my father and his siblings as they fished from their curraghs. The moment they turned for home, we would rush to meet them as they landed with their catch – crab, mackerel, and lobster – a ritual as natural to us as the tides themselves.”
Education was always central to Margie’s life. As a child in primary school, her teacher, Mrs Claire, nurtured her love of learning and teaching. “She gave me, at just six years of age, my first experience of standing in front of a class. That simple moment lit a quiet fire in me, a calling I would spend my life answering.”
She warmly recalls her first encounter as a toddler with the Jesus and Mary Sisters, the congregation who founded Salerno school. One of their nuns knocked at the door of Margie’s family home asking if they could boil some water for their picnic at the seashore.
“Neither they, my mother, or I, could have imagined the treasure that would unfold for me from that visit. Ten years later, my mother walked with me, as a first year student, up the steps of the old Salerno on Revagh Road and handed me over to the principal, Mother Claudine, and her teaching staff. From that day until I retired as deputy principal, Salerno was my second home. Over those years, I found myself in flow as I experienced both personal and professional fulfilment on a daily basis.”
As a young teacher, she says she carried with her the values of kindness and care instilled by the many “wonderful” teachers from her school days. “They helped me find my purpose. The school was run by amazing women, women of vision such as Sr Veronica Heffernan from Mayo. She was very caring and could have run Ireland! The current principal, Marie Flannery, has been wonderful to me too, she could not have supported me more.”
Margie says she was privileged to work with thousands of students during her career as a business, accountancy, and maths teacher and later, as the deputy-principal of the Salthill school. “I was driven by the belief that authentic connection between student and teacher is the cornerstone of meaningful and successful learning. Every September, I welcomed the challenge of engaging with each class, honouring the uniqueness of every student, ensuring that each one felt safe, seen, heard, and cared for.
A new chapter
“The inspiring words of Claudine Thevenet: [the French religious sister who founded the Jesus and Mary Order and whose feast day is on February 3] ‘Be like mothers to the girls’ and ‘How good God is’ were woven into the fabric of this wonderful school. The classroom nourished my soul.”
As the years unfolded, Margie, who has two children, Rebecca and Mark, and five grandchildren – her most recent grandson, Callum, was born since her book was published, decided to open a new chapter in her life. She retired in 2014, aged 57, and later become a life coach and an author.
The proceeds from the sale of her publication, which is titled “Come to your landing Pier,” will go to Sr Rose and her Jesus and Mary Mission in Haiti and ALK-Positive Lung Cancer Research. Beautifully illustrated by local artists, the book costs €20 and Margie aims to raise €30,000 from its sale – she has already reached €20,000.
The President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly, is her inspiration. Margie was married to Catherine’s late cousin, Seán, a writer and painter who was well known locally as the son of the former late Mayor, Cllr Martin Connolly, and through his businesses, “Curiosity Corner” on Cross Street and the wine bar, Le Graal, in Dominick Street.
“Catherine and I share a lot of values – education, kindness, and caring for people. I am very proud that there are some copies of my book in Áras an Uachtaráin.”
Margie has received tremendous support from local businesses. “The local community has been wonderful to me. Nigel and the amazing staff in Slemon’s Daybreak, Furbo have been amazing as has Aoife in Áitiúil in Barna. They keep telling me to drop up more books. Tom and his daughter, Sarah, of Kenny’s Bookshop were very kind to me, too. They treated me so well, I felt I had won the Booker Prize! They took photos of me signing the authors’ book.”
She believes she is guided by a higher power on her journey through life. “I am humbled by the deep realisation that a mothering hand of love, kindness, and care has quietly guided me along the shores of my life’s many journeys. This new awareness brings both peace and clarity, reassuring me that I do not embark alone.”
Margie Connolly’s book, “Come to your Landing Pier” is available from the following outlets:- Books at One, Letterfrack, Clifden Bookshop, Standún’s, Spiddal, Slemon’s Daybreak, Furbo, Kenny’s Bookshop, O’Connor’s Centra and Inver O’Farrell’s, Salthill, Áitiúil and Design House Barna, Haven Pharmacy, Barna Opticians, Súil Eile Space, Barna, Larry Walsh’s Garage, Barna, Dangan Nurseries, Bellissimo, and online at www.margieconnolly.ie
