Marguerite McDonough is a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. And on Thursday, all four generations of her family gathered at Isola Restaurant to wish their matriarch a happy 100th birthday.
Born on a kitchen table in New York, Mrs. McDonough was the fifth of eight children.
“I was brought up with a very decisive mother,” Mrs. McDonough recalled. “She was very precise about what we ate, who we spent time with.”
She credits her long life with trying to meet her mother’s expectations. “I have to think before I act,” she said. She also acknowledges a higher power: “The good Lord watching over us.”
Longevity runs in the family. Mrs. McDonough’s parents and sisters all lived into their nineties, though Mrs. McDonough is the first to reach 100. During the celebration for her centennial, friends and family described her as determined, hardworking and gracious.
As a young woman she saved $5 dollars a week to put herself through nursing school. She worked as a registered nurse throughout her marriage and while she raised her children.
“I was always proud of the fact she was a working mom,” said her daughter, Maureen Fischer. “In the ‘50s, that was unheard of.”
Mrs. McDonough, an eager learner, went back to school for a bachelors of arts and concentrated in psychiatric children’s nursing and philosophy. “I loved my philosophy courses,” she said. “I’d do it all over again.”
After the death of her husband, Peter Hunt, Mrs. McDonough found love a second time with an Irish gentleman, Ned McDonough.
Mrs. Fischer said he was the only man who could woo her mother, though many tried. She added that Mr. McDonough looked a lot like the actor Pierce Brosnan, which definitely helped.
Mrs. McDonough was 68 at the time and Mr. McDonough was 75. Three months after meeting, they married. Together, they lived in Florida before moving to the Vineyard.
Though most of the family lives on the Island now, it was Mrs. Fischer and her husband who first introduced the Vineyard to the everyone, including Mrs. McDonough.
“We rode back on the ferry and we all cried thinking we’d never be on the Vineyard again,” said Mrs. Fischer, recalling an early trip. Now Mrs. Fischer and her husband live in West Tisbury, her daughter, Colette Kurelja lives in Edgartown with her two daughters, Lillian, 15, and Ana, 12, while Mrs. McDonough lives at Havenside in Vineyard Haven.
Lilly and Ana call their great-grandmother Nanny, and said they often gather the multi-generational family together.
“She’s really inspiring, she’s 100 years old and still goes out and gets her nails done and her hair done,” said Lilly.
And for Mrs. McDonough, life is all about spending time with the people she loves.
“I look forward to seeing my family grow up for a little while longer,” she said. “At my age, 100, there’s not much more you can ask for, but to continue to see them for a little while.”
Comments (4)
Comments
Comment policy »