Popular school secretary bows out

Popular secretary Catherine Quigley recently shared some fond reflections at the end of her 42-year career at St Mary's Convent Primary School.

The first secretary appointed in the Nenagh school's 111-year history, Catherine came to play an intrinsic part in the St Mary's Convent story. She witnessed a great deal of change over those four decades, during which the school moved from an all-religious to all-lay-run institution. And while she grew to love her job, Catherine admits that she didn't want it in the first place and never intended to spend so long at St Mary's; she wanted to travel the world instead.

“After I did the interview, I came out and I went to St Mary of the Rosary and I said a prayer that I wouldn't get the job!” she told of the day her story began in 1978.

“Sometimes our prayers are answered in different ways than we think. And it turned out for the best.”

Catherine's introduction to St Mary's was as a four-year-old pupil; all of her teachers at the time were Sisters of Mercy nuns. She went on to St Mary's Secondary School and then did a secretarial course in what is now Nenagh College.

She had started a temporary job at Beechwood House on the Cloughjordan road when the school secretary position was advertised.

“At that age you don't know what you want to do,” Catherine recalled of applying for the job. “I'd all kinds of things in my head, like nursing. I thought it would be good to have a job that you could take anywhere in the world.

“I said I'd do it just for the experience. You don't normally want to return to your primary school when your old teachers are still there! But I said I'd go for it anyway and just do the interview.

“I said: ‘I'll probably stay two years’; I never dreamed I'd be staying there for 42 years! But it just goes to show that I enjoyed the job so much.”

Her position was initially shared between the Convent and St Mary's Boy NS, where Joe Daly was principal at the time. Though based at the Convent, Catherine fulfilled secretarial duties for both schools for some 24 years. It was only when pupil and teaching staff numbers at the Convent reached a sufficient level that she became full-time secretary there (a part-time secretary was appointed at the boys school).

SIX PRINCIPALS

She was appointed by Sr Elizabeth Brennan, the first of six principals that Catherine would work with at St Mary's. There followed Sr Ann Hannon, Sr Stephanie Conway, Noreen Spain (the school's first lay principal) and Peadar O'Dwyer (the first male principal), while Geraldine Kirwan served a year as acting principal.

“Each one of them brought something new to the school,” Catherine said. “They all had their own ideas, and it was good experience for me too with all the different ways the different principals worked.”

She developed at particularly good working relationship and friendship with Sr Stephanie, with whom Catherine shared some of the most treasured memories of her time at St Mary's. During her 14 years at the helm - the longest tenure of Catherine's time - Sr Stephanie founded the Convent school's renowned marching band , and Catherine speaks of the thrill of bringing the girls to Fleadh Cheoil events for the first time in 1987.

As the band grew and more staff became involved, they brought the musicians and majorettes to St Patrick's Day parades in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Kilkenny and Athlone, as well as locally in Nenagh and Roscrea.

CROKE PARK APPEARANCE

A standout memory is of St Patrick's Day 1989 when they brought two bus-loads of girls to Dublin. It was a real honour to perform at the capital parade but there was even more excitement to follow when the Nenagh band was perchance requested to go out to Croke Park and perform at the All Ireland Club Final.

“When we arrived at Croke Park, I'll never forget the excitement of walking out under the tunnel with the band and the majorettes,” Catherine said. “I'd have never been on the field in Croke Park, whatever about being a spectator. The excitement was just palpable.

“The girls were the only girls band to ever play in Croke Park; before it was always the Artane Boys. A lot of the parents back home in Nenagh were watching the match when they said: ‘Oh, my God, there's my daughter on the television!’ To walk in that tunnel where our county players come out and other county players have come out was a big memory for me.”

CHANGING TIMES

There were around 600 pupils at St Mary's when Catherine began working there and she knew most of them as, being a native of the town, she was familiar with their families. The numbers dropped considerably in the years after that, Catherine reasoning that people generally have smaller families now. There are presently around 400 girls enrolled and the school has become multi-national and multi-denominational in keeping with the times.

The retired secretary also speaks of the changes wrought in her day-to-day work over the years; the transition from typewriter to early-model computer was “like going to a Ferrari!” Catherine joked.

And through all the changes she saw over the years, Catherine invokes the constant spirit of friendship and teamwork at St Mary's, qualities of her working life that she will always savour.

“I loved the interaction with the children and the staff and the parents. St Mary's Convent Primary School has always had a wonderful staff. The teachers and the SNAs are second to none.

“They all work together as a team for the good of the children in their care; they're just like mothers to the children, really... It never feels like work when you're around that lovely energy every day.

“One of the lessons I learned over the years is: ‘People won't remember you for the last task you've completed, but they will always remember you for how you made them feel’. That was always my kind of motto. If you treat people like you would like to be treated yourself, and treat them with a bit of respect, then you will never go too far wrong in life.”

And her job did afford Catherine the opportunity to travel abroad given the great holiday time she had. She made use of that time to travel to Australia (twice - once a three-month stay), South Africa, Zambia, parts of Asia and the US, and most of Europe.

Now that she has retired - and been replaced as secretary by Monica Kennedy of Toomevara - Catherine is hoping to spend more time travelling in a post-pandemic world. All at St Mary's now and the many generations that passed through before them wish her a bon voyage and plenty more happy memories to make.