By Bruce Congalton
Well known Martinborough local, Molly McGillicuddy, died on 10 December 2024, aged 97.
The day before Molly’s funeral at St Anthony’s Church I sat with her nieces Mary and Sheryl, and nephew Peter, in their aunt’s home in Oxford Street.
They described her as a very private person, but also someone very involved in the Martinborough community. Molly was a member of the Lionesses, the Rose Society and St Johns Ambulance. She played golf at the Martinborough Golf Club from when she was very young, only resigning in her eighties.
For a long time Molly was involved with Wharekaka Rest Home, helping with fundraising, Meals on Wheels and in many other ways. In her eighties she learnt to use Facebook and became very proficient with it. That way that she could be up to date with what was going on in the community and keep in touch with those in it.
Molly was born in 1927, one of six children, starting life on the family farm at Dyerville. She worked from an early age helping her parents with the milking and other farm work. She attended Dyerville Primary School.
When she was 29 the family moved into a new house in Oxford Street and Molly started working for the lawyer in Martinborough, Mr Gawith. Her job: balancing the ledgers. It was her first and only paid position and she stayed working there until she turned 60. Her nieces tell me that she was highly valued by Mr Gawith and he treated Molly like family.
I learnt that Molly had a soft, generous nature but was also very strong-willed: you didn’t want to cross her. She was close to all the neighbours around her and together they organised socials regularly at the Town Hall.
Living in the Oxford Street house, she looked after her parents until they died and then her brother Brian.
Gardening was one of her great loves, especially roses, which I could see blooming beautifully outside the window. Looking out to the driveway I saw her immaculately kept, old green Mazda which she drove until only a few months before she died. As well as being a dedicated gardener she was also a great cook and her nieces tell me she was famous in Martinborough for her bacon and egg pies and pavlova rolls.
Molly had a very deep, “old fashioned” kind of faith within the Catholic Church. She was determined that she would have a Requiem Mass in her local church, St Anthony’s of Padua.
While it had not been used for six years because it was considered unsafe due to the poor earthquake rating placed on it, local parish priest, Father Dennis Nacorda, gave special dispensation for her funeral to be held there.
The church was built in 1923 to replace the wooden one that was burnt down, so it’s very likely that Molly was christened in that same church where she was farewelled.
She had given clear instructions on which hymns should be sung and wanted an old favourite, “The Old Rugged Cross,” to be used as the Offertory Hymn.
As the recording by country singer Alan Jackson was being played at the end of the mass, the congregation quietly reflected on Molly’s long and fruitful life.
Caption: Molly McGillicuddy: a Martinborough life.
