It is with sadness that our club is under another dark cloud of mourning as we learned of the passing of Terry Tormey (née Skelly) after a short illness. We have lost another club president too soon after her dear friend and club president Aily O’Regan passed away less than four months ago.

Terry is predeceased by her son Christopher, her brother Lar, sisters Kate, Vera and Bernie and daughter in law Kathleen. She is survived by her loving husband Joey, sons Alan, Declan and Conor, daughters Caroline, Teresa and Kathleen, her sister Monica (Mon) together with grandchildren, great grandchildren and extended family and friends.

If someone was to travel the length and breadth of the country and look at the structure of our GAA clubs, they would come to the conclusion that all GAA clubs have a family or two associated with their club. When the club is mentioned, these families come hand in hand. These families would have a long association with their club and were always the centre of the “club family”. The Skelly and Tormey Families fill this role in Donaghmore Ashbourne. Like any family the mother is always at the centre, always there, working hard in the background and always supporting her “family”. Terry Tormey fulfilled that mother’s role in Donaghmore for years and years. A small woman with a huge heart and love for her family and club, she was steeped in our history.

Her father Kit Skelly was a founder member of the Donaghmore Club in 1923 and this is where Terry’s first love of the club came. Terry was a supporter, a worker, a camogie player, a selector, a fundraiser, a jersey washer, a chairperson and much much more. Long before there were automatic washing machines and these modern light dry fit jerseys Terry would not alone wash the Donaghmore jerseys but also the Meath Jerseys. She was known for her handy needlework skills and could always do running repairs to jerseys all in good time for the next outing. Nothing went to waste

Terry fulfilled many roles within the Camogie Committee in the club and together herself and Aily always kept pushing to promote and keep the code alive. Before our new clubhouse was built there were many Camogie AGM’s upstairs in Kelly’s where Terry would be going up the stairs hoping to step down from her role and enjoy some spare time but Terry being Terry would never leave a role unfilled and would “give it another year” when others would decline to take a position. Her attention to detail and how meetings were to be run was her strength. She allowed people to have their say but this soft-spoken woman was well able to fight her corner when the occasion was necessary. To her credit she like any mother ran a tight ship and watched the pennies and made the budget work. Thankfully her dedication to Camogie in those years is the foundation we have for a thriving code within the club today with many girls playing Camogie across several age group both at club and county level.

Not alone did Terry fill the roles within the club with pride and passion she spent many years travelling to various locations in Meath to represent the club at County Camogie level. She was Camogie Treasurer at County board level for over 20 years and again she ran an extremely efficient operation. She was highly regarded and respected within the Camogie community of Meath.

In recognition of her contribution to the club down the years and in particular to Camogie, Terry was elected club president and this appointment was very well received.

Terry and Joey went to all our club games, and you knew Terry was there when you’d hear the shouts of “Come on Donaghmore” from the side of the pitch. It would be fair to say that Terry was never a fan of “Come on Ashbourne” and rightly so. She was proud of the Donaghmore name and didn’t want it to be lost.

Both Terry and Joey also travelled the length and breadth of the Country following the Royals. She was a proud Meath supporter and there was no prouder mother on All Ireland Final Day in 1977 when her son Alan lined out for Meath in the Minor Final. She was equally proud when grandson Andrew lined out for both Meath minors and later the Senior team and was always there to support him.

Terry was a warm and friendly woman who always made everyone in the club welcome. She was a woman of strong faith and was always at 9am mass on a Sunday morning. As well as her needle work skills Terry made the most delicious homemade brown bread and we hope she has passed this secret recipe onto the next generations.

She had a lifelong friend in Aily who they shared a deep friendship for over 50 years. Every Sunday Terry would collect Aily and they could travel anywhere for a Camogie match. They, together with Phil Synnott would be seen at games, club functions and other events in the community down the years. Pre Covid the two presidents would attend the bingo in the club and afterwards sit about and catch up, Terry with her orange juice and Aily with something a little stronger. We do hope these three friends are reunited again and that their friendship is renewed.

As a club, a family and a community we extend our condolences to Joey, Alan, Declan, Caroline, Conor, Teresa and Kathleen and to all of Terry’s family and close friends. She enriched our lives so sadness and gratitude are the balanced emotions we all feel at this time.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam.

https://rip.ie/death-notice/teresa-terry-tormey-ashbourne-meath/491021