Mary Loretta Kelly

For my mother’s 75th birthday my brother gave her the gift of a lifetime. He arranged a trip to her grandparents’ homeland, where the Murphys’ and Handleys’ hailed from, County Mayo and County Meath in Ireland. She called me from her hotel overlooking Galway Bay. “It’s the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”

The excitement in her voice was palpable. But, later that day, driving through the countryside she suffered a massive stroke. My panicked brother called the family and sent daily updates. The outlook wasn’t good. 

And so several of the siblings, there were ten of us, obtained emergency passports (1993) and made their way across the pond to Ireland to bid their farewells to our mother. I couldn't afford to go and had my two small daughters to care for and several classes of students who needed me as well. My sister Jane knowing how desperately I wanted to be with my mother in what we believed were her final hours bought me a Claddagh ring in Galway which I still wear today.

We were able to fly her home, thanks to Aer Lingus, and she lived for several more months. I held her hand in her last moments and stroked her hair and told her what a privilege it was to have her as my mother. “Go now,” I told her, “and be with your Bill.”  

“We will all be fine,” I assured her, and we were.