First lady teacher returns to St Finian’s 50 years on

By Gerry Buckley

This columnist was a 13-year-old second year student in St Finian’s College in Mullingar when decades of all-male classrooms – both staff and pupils – came to an end in September 1969 with the arrival of a tall blonde lady teacher from Carrickmacross in County Monaghan to teach French, the new subject on the curriculum, replacing Greek for the boys in first year (nicknamed ‘guffs’) and second year.

Marie McHugh certainly turned the heads of the senior boys in the school, the boarding content of whom only got home at Halloween, Christmas and Easter. Marie only stayed for the 1969/70 academic year. Indeed, initially it proved difficult for the president to retain the services of a French teacher for longer than a couple of years.

The other three lay teachers in 1969/70 clocked up over 120 years’ service between them – Des Buckley RIP (my father), Willie MacNamara RIP and Paddy Grace, still hale and hearty and living in Prospect. The other 11 staff members were all priests, of whom just three survive, Fr Frank MacNamara (Mullingar), Fr Matt Mollin (Celbridge)and Fr Des Egan (a well-known poet, long since laicised and living in Newbridge).

Yours truly wondered for many years what had become of Marie. Naturally, I assumed her name had changed with marriage, but after a lot of ‘detective’ work around the time of the Golden Jubilee of her year in Mullingar, I tracked her down. Indeed, the initial reaction of her husband, Pat Shortt, when he got my email was that I “should get a job in the Secret Service”!

Marie and I exchanged emails over the last 11 months all culminating in a very pleasant afternoon in my alma mater last Wednesday.

Marie, who was unaware at the time of the history-making nature of her appointment, had not been to St Finian’s during the last 51 and-a-half years and was delighted with the warmth of the welcome she received from the president, Fr Paul Connell, who took her on a mini-tour of the school (soon to undertake a massive refurbishment and extension). She also briefly met principal, John McHale, and deputy principal, Aisling Ryan.

Marie, who finished secondary school teaching in the mid-1970s and, after returning from six years in Saudi Arabia (a country she and I discussed, both of us having worked there) ended up running an English language school in Dublin, Alpha College, alongside Pat for over 30 years. The latter, a native of Youghal, and Marie’s sister, Mairéad Gill, accompanied her on last Wednesday’s visit to Mullingar. Marie and Pat have an adult son and daughter (both born in Saudi Arabia) and two grandchildren.

She promised not to wait another 51.5 years to return!