THE passing of Mary Quinn (Lal) recently, will leave a void with a lot of friends in the many faceted areas of her life from teaching, judging, world travel, art, music, bridge and archaeology and history.

Mary was a talented pony and horse jumping competitor. She jumped numerous ponies and won many classes in the embryo stages of the sport of pony jumping, pre the advent of the clock and the introduction of three different height categories.

In her horse riding days, she competed mostly at the shows that were accessible locally around Clare, Limerick and Galway and along with her siblings, they would make the journeys on horseback, except for the occasional longer trips that were covered in Frank Casey’s lorry, (a memorable treat). Mr Casey was a great character and a lifelong friend.

Probably the two main highlights of this era for her were winning the final of the Cork Examiner Cup for young horses on Casino, owned by her uncle B.F Kerrison and winning the Capt. Mick Tubridy Memorial Trophy for open horses at the 15th of August show in Ennis, riding her own horse Prince, in an exciting jump-off with Tommy Wade riding Dundrum. Mary competed regularly at the RDS at this time and frequent hunting was an absolute imperative as her father Jimmo Quinn was the huntsman with the Co. Clare Hunt.

Supportive

Mary was immensely proud and supportive of her nephews and nieces involvement in equestrianism. Comdt James Quinn, ex Air Corp pilot was a member of the 1986 team that competed in the European Junior championship in Ennis. Garrett Quinn was a member of the 1991 pony team that competed in the European championship in Wierden, Netherlands. Both teams finished fourth. Their brother Paddy Quinn won a very hotly contested 128 championship in Dublin. That was also in 1991. Eimear, Maeve, Fiona and Brian all competed on the national pony circuit.

After qualifying as a P.E. teacher at Sion Hill in Dublin, she worked in Roscrea and Ennis all her professional life. She started as a show jumping judge in the 1970s and went on to become a Senior National judge covering the RDS, Millstreet, Mullingar, Tatterstalls (fence judge) and at numerous national shows up and down the country. Her knowledge of the rules and her dedication to the proper implementation of them was legendary.

Widely travelled

Mary and her lifelong friend from Sion Hill days, Rosalie Pettit from Terenure, were inveterate travellers and together they transversed the globe – from Russia to China, Columbia, South Africa, Egypt, Jordan, Argentina, Mexico, U.S.A. Canada, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, as well all the countries of Europe, many times.

In fact Mary and Rosalie had left Christchurch just 12 hours before a devastating earthquake struck the city in 2011. Travelling to Europe and driving across various countries bothered her as little as having to drive to Galway or Limerick.

As a result, she made lifelong friends in a multitude of countries. The flood of sympathy cards and messages from friends around the world is testament to these two ladies’ extensive travels. They also did five cruises including the Yangtse, The Nile and Lisbon to Nice.

Mary took great pleasure in her art and art classes and produced some very notable paintings. She also loved her bridge and during the season played a few times a week. She was secretary of the Shannon Archaeological Society and loved their outings and lectures.

Mary was instrumental in organising the twinning between Shannon town and Guingamp in Brittany and took great pride in the success of this endeavour. Musician and broadcaster Pat Costello, who passed away last April, was a lifelong friend. He presented music programmes on Clare FM, as well as being a long time member of renowned traditional group, Shaskeen. She loved all kinds of genres and she had a special interest in opera and ballet.

Mary would have been 80 on her next birthday and her extensive interests and hobbies allowed her to meet her final end in a very contented fashion, expressing no fear, only total satisfaction with her varied and interesting life.

She is survived by her four siblings, Eileen McEnteagart, Dundalk, Pat Quinn, Claremount Clarecastle, (renowned bridge player), Capt. Jimmy Quinn, Ennis, former Army International Rider and Tommy Quinn, Galway, her brother-in-law, sisters-in-law, numerous nieces, nephews and grand nieces and nephews.

Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a hanam dílis.

J.F.Q.