Ireland’s oldest person Ruby Druce (109) ‘enriched the lives of so many’, her funeral hears

Ruby Druce, who was Ireland’s oldest person, died peacefully at her home early on Friday morning surrounded by her loving family.

Ruby celebrated her 109th birthday on New Year’s Eve in her hometown of Castlefinn, Co Donegal, where she lived with her niece Carmel Harran and Carmel’s husband Martin.

Before her death, Ruby was Ireland’s oldest known resident since August last year following the death of Galway’s Phyllis Furness, who had also reached the age of 109.

When she was told she was the oldest known person in Ireland, Ruby simply asked: “Am I?’, as calm as you like,” her niece Carmel Harran had said.

A large number of family, friends and neighbours packed into St Mary's Church for Ruby’s funeral mass on Sunday afternoon as members of An Garda Síochána formed a guard of honour outside the church.

Parish priest of the Church of the Irish Martyrs, Fr Ciaran Harkin, remarked that Ruby was blessed with an extraordinary long life in which “she enriched the lives of so many in many different ways”.

A number of symbols were brought forward to the alter to represent Ruby’s life including her wedding photo with her childhood sweetheart Jim, The Castlefinn History Club Annual which featured many pictures of Ruby, and her ninth President’s medal that she received when she turned 109.

Ruby’s love of a boiled sweet was represented while the Messenger publication was also brought forward to represent the days Ruby spent delivering it through the locality.

Her rosary beads and the robe she was christened in 109 years ago were brought forward by her great grandniece and namesake, Ruby, who was also christened in the same robe.

Born on New Year’s Eve in 1915, to George Crawford and Elizabeth, née McBride, Ruby was the eldest of five children and the family lived in Castlefinn.

In her long lifetime, Ruby lived through two World Wars and two global pandemics.

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In 1918, the Spanish Flu claimed the lives of her baby sister and younger brother in the same week.

Ruby previously told the story of how her father gave her poitín when she was just three after she also contracted the Spanish Flu.

She went on to become a pioneer and never smoked, while she worked in Porter’s Shirt Factory from the age of 14 until she was 62.

In 1956, she married James Druce, who died 14 years later.

She had previously said the secret to her long life was plenty of walking, hard work and a daily cod liver oil capsule.

Fr Harkin explained that Ruby had spent over ten years at the Parish of Aughaninshin as she stayed with her niece, Margo Butler in Letterkenny.

“I tried my best to turn her into a Letterkenny woman and failed miserably. She was Castlefinn through and through,” said Fr Harkin.

Speaking at the funeral, Martin Harran, whom Ruby lived with for the past eight months, said he had previously spoken at a Mass in the church for Ruby’s 100th birthday.

He said the “entire village turned out to celebrate with her” and Ruby was so pleased that she “talked about it constantly for a long time afterwards”.

“We never imagined that day we would enjoy Ruby for another nine years,” said Mr Harran.

“When the media talk about Ruby’s life, they talk about the things she has lived through – two pandemics, two World Wars, the Easter Rising – but Ruby’s real history was Ruby herself and the people she touched.

“From her days as a teenager at the shirt factory to her position as Ireland’s oldest person.

“And that has really been brought home by the sheer numbers of people who have come to her wake and here today and the spectrum of people who loved Ruby – from young children who adored her through to the people who have shared so many great memories of Ruby,” said Mr Harran.

Ruby had always been fiercely independent and lived on her own until she was 98.

She used to walk every day and enjoyed keeping her own house.

However, after suffering a bad fall and spending a short period of time in hospital, she moved to Letterkenny to live with her niece, Ms Butler.

She lived in Letterkenny for ten years, but last year, Margo was diagnosed with cancer and died a short time later.

Mr Harran said once she turned 100, she became a “real Donegal celebrity” and went on many trips throughout the county with her “beloved Margo”.

“Here comes Margo and Ruby was a very constant refrain that was heard everywhere. We have to thank and think about Margo and the wonderful care that she and her family gave Ruby for over 10 years,” said Mr Harran.

He said when she became Ireland’s oldest person, many media came to the house to interview Ruby and they “fell for Ruby and went away talking about the wonderful and amazing person she was”.

“People have remarked to me that for someone who had no children of her own, she was very lucky in having an extended family that loved and cared for her, especially her two nieces, Margo and Carmel,” Mr Harran said.

“It was Ruby herself who created that. She was someone who was very easy to like and love.”

“I genuinely cannot exaggerate how much of a privilege it has been for Carmel and me to have Ruby in our home for the past eight months.”

Thanks were expressed to Ruby’s team of home helps, doctors, nurses and the local health centre and all those who cared for Ruby.

When Ruby turned 100, she received well wishes from the President and a cheque.

However, her generous nature saw Ruby giving the money to charities in Donegal - Guide Dogs for the Blind, Donegal Hospice, Lifford Hospital and the Cancer Bus for patients going from Letterkenny to Galway for appointments.

Ruby had been a Daniel O’Donnell fan for decades and they even performed The Homes of Donegal together when he called to visit her last year.

During the homily, Fr Harkin said Ruby had a strong faith and had waited patiently for the call from God.

He said she seemed to be in a “state of continual prayer”.

“Her rosary beads were often constantly in her hands and if not in her hands, in her pocket,” he said.

Fr Harkin said it was not her length of years that made Ruby stand out but rather her “kindness, her very caring nature, her crazy or sometimes interesting sense of humour and her great zest for life.”

“Her great interest in people and the great interest in your lives that left a deep impression on so many,” he said.

“You could say Martin in his few words put flesh on the bones and painted a portrait for us of Ruby as a beautiful rose – a rose in God’s garden.

“One of the symbols that were brought up was her baptism robe from the day she was christened over 109 years ago.

“The day that her relationship with God began.”

In conclusion, Fr Harkin said: “Ruby Druce, certainly in the words of St Paul, fought a good fight to the end, she ran the race and she certainly kept the faith.”

Ruby’s remains were taken to the adjoining cemetery for interment.

Ruby was predeceased by her parents George and Lizzie, husband Jim, brothers Geordie and James, sisters Maggie and Molly, her niece Margo and nephew Tony.

She is survived by her nieces Carmel and Claire, and nephew Seamus and extended family and very close friends.