Mrs. Breedh Smyth

Although having spent most of her life in Derrygonnelly, Breedh was not a native of Fermanagh. She was born in Dublin city in 1938 to Tobias McGee, a merchant seaman, and his wife Margaret.

Tobias died in WWII when his ship, part of an Atlantic convoy, was torpedoed by a German U-boat and Margaret died some years later while in hospital for a routine operation. Breedh was left an orphan at the age of nine which brought her north to Fermanagh.

If the circumstances of her leaving Dublin were marked by tragedy she retained a deep affection for and had strong memories of the city and often returned there.

Breedh was reared in the townland of Caldrum, a place she had visited before, by her mother’s friend, Kathleen Kelly, and her parents Patsy and Jane. And it was those years spent in Caldrum that left the deepest impression on Breedh.

The Kelly home was a popular and hospitable stop-off point for most who travelled by and in Kathleen she had the perfect role model of generosity and going out of one’s way to help others.

Kathleen and her mother passed on to Breedh their skills in needlework – both were fine seamstresses employed in the remaining big houses of the time to make and mend ball gowns before the dance season each year – and a love of cooking and baking.

The arrival of a Dublin girl to St. Patrick’s Primary School in Derrygonnelly was a novelty in the 1940s and Breedh was regarded as something of an exotic character for a good while thereafter. It was also while at primary school that she first met Aidan Smyth who was to become her husband.

Breedh’s secondary education was at Mount Lourdes Grammar School in Enniskillen. She contributed to many aspects of school life including performing in musical productions and made many friendships that endured throughout her life.

On leaving school she worked for the Ministry of Agriculture – initially in Belfast and then in Enniskillen – until she resigned in 1965 to marry Aidan. At that time only single women were permitted to work in civil service jobs.

Breedh and Aidan lived together on the Main Street in Derrygonnelly at Smyth’s newsagents and had three children together – Sinéad born in 1966, Cathal in 1969 and Liam in 1971.

In the following years Breedh worked as a substitute teacher in various schools around the county and, encouraged by a schools’ inspector who recognised her talent, decided to pursue a full-time career in teaching.

In 1974 she enrolled at Garnerville teacher training college in Belfast – later part of the University of Ulster – as a mature student. For three years Breedh studied in Belfast during the week and came home to her family each weekend. She was a popular student and had a mischievous sense of fun that came as a surprise to some of her younger course mates.

Breedh graduated in 1977 with a Teacher’s Diploma in home economics and in September of the same year took up a post at St Fanchea’s School, Enniskillen, where she remained right through to retirement.

She taught for many years alongside Sister Macartan with whom she formed a formidable partnership. Together they had an interesting blend of approaches to and ideas about education, united by a commitment to help all their pupils get the most out of their education and their lives.

Of the many stories from Breedh’s time at St. Fanchea’s, the annual ritual of the Christmas cakes is as good as any. Breedh and Sister Macartan were determined that every pupil’s family should have a proper cake at Christmas. Each September the shopping for ingredients would begin and by the end of term there was a wonderful display of beautifully iced and decorated Christmas cakes ready to take home.

On Sister Macartan’s retirement Breedh became Head of Department. She is remembered as a talented teacher, well-liked by all staff, a good friend and mentor to younger teachers starting out and someone who was good fun to spend time with. Following her own retirement Breedh continued to work as a substitute teacher with spells at St. Aidan’s Derrylin, and the Collegiate and the High School in Enniskillen.

Outside of work, Breedh played an active role in the Derrygonnelly community and parish giving long service to a range of groups including the Red Cross, Pioneers, Altar Society, Legion of Mary, St. Patrick’s Church choir and badminton club. She always had a strong artistic ability and could turn her hand to most things creative. She was gifted in both needlework and baking and could have built a successful business in either but her creations were usually given as gifts or favours.

She made ball gowns and bridal gowns, dresses for bridesmaids and vestments for priests, intricate embroidery and lacework, a standard for Derrygonnelly Boy Scouts, designed and made from scratch – skilled hands and a creative mind.

Her talents in baking were most often realised in her Christmas and wedding cakes. Each was finely baked and exquisitely decorated even when, at Christmas, she produced over a dozen cakes for friends and neighbours carrying on a tradition begun many years before by Kathleen Kelly.

Breedh also had a passion for flower arranging, creating beautiful and notable flower displays for the church. In all her creative endeavours she was a perfectionist. And while this didn’t always make her the easiest to work with, people understood that it was down to her belief in doing things the right way.

In 1988 Breedh moved back to Caldrum with Aidan to a house they built across the road from where she had been brought up. Caldrum had always been a place of great joy for her and she was happy to be able to return.

In later years Breedh had suffered from a progressive loss of mobility brought about by rheumatoid arthritis and then, more severely, lymphoedema, a condition that caused lymph fluid to accumulate in her legs.

Over time she required greater levels of assistance – both from Aidan and professional carers who came to the house – and was unable to get out very often due to her physical condition and an accompanying self-consciousness about being in public. Despite this, she was not one to complain and maintained close communication with her extended network of friends. She loved to talk – with callers on the phone or to the house – and when the conversation and the coffee got flowing around the kitchen table, visitors knew they could be in for a late night.

Breedh had a great memory and was something of an oral historian recounting stories from her childhood and older tales passed on from Kathleen and her parents. One of her final projects was to record the Smyth family tree going from the present day back to 1817 when Father Nicholas Smyth moved from Dromore to make peace between the opposing sides in the Monea Schism.

Breedh lived to see the birth of two new grandsons – Gill (2012) and Callan (2015) born to Cathal and Lisa – to join her earlier grandchildren Sarah (1998) and Adrian (2000) – born to Sinéad and Bryan Mulholland.

September 7, 2015 saw Breedh and Aidan’s 50th Wedding Anniversary. Breedh was in good spirits and happy to have her family around her to celebrate the event.

She was admitted to hospital on the evening of Sunday, September 20 and deteriorated rapidly.

In the end the strain on her heart caused by the many years of lymphoedema had taken its toll.

In the stories of those who came to mourn her, Breedh was remembered as a warm, loving and generous friend who was always willing to help others; someone who was genuinely funny and fun to be with who could find lightness in the darkest of times and raise the spirits of those around her.

Breedh is survived by Aidan, Sinéad, Cathal and Liam and her four grandchildren. Her funeral Mass took place on Sunday, September 27 at St. Patrick’s Church in Derrygonnelly after which she was buried with Kathleen and her parents in the Kelly family plot.