On this day in 1952 Emily M. Weddall died. She was 85. She had been failing for some time. In her last days she was attended to by her old friend Dr. Kathleen Lynn, who was by then an old lady herself. Dr. Lynn recorded Emily’s last days in her diary;

15th November 1952

A brighter day, not quite as dismal, did round in car & was late in Teac about 2 at s. Mary’s, they have the loan of 2 sisters fr. S John’s and they are a wonderful help Poor Mrs. Weddall knows no one now and easy to manage now…

25th November 1952

Such a day of rain and wind. E. S. and some snow. Mrs Weddall’s funeral fr. S. Mary’s at 10. Several in the chapel there & then to Glasnevin to Republican Plot.

When the sad news reached Achill, her old friends were sad to hear of her passing. They paid tribute to the generous lady who lived among them and helped them out unselfishly during “the critical days of the Republic”. Brian Corrigan wrote her obituary, which appeared in the Mayo News, the paper Emily was a regular correspondent with in the lead up to and during the period mentioned in the tributes paid to her after her death.

She was laid to rest near the Republican Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery, where her grave was unmarked for sixty years. In 2012 a gravestone was unveilled to mark her final resting spot, by the current members of Scoil Acla, a tribute to a lady that was never forgotten.

Sources

Diaries of Kathleen Lynn

Irish Independant
Mayo News