POWERFUL women always stand out and, in Skibbereen, the late Peggy Hayes, who died at the age of 89 on the date of her birth, was quintessentially a powerful woman.

It wasn’t just as a businesswoman that the indomitable Peggy Hayes loomed large, the electrical goods store M.A. Hayes on Bridge Street was the place where lots of people went to find wisdom, humour, solace and support.

Unsurprisingly her daughter, Marie Hayes, a teacher and assistant principal at Kinsale Community School, gave a powerful eulogy at her requiem mass on Tuesday December 30th in St Comghall’s Church in Lisheen, just four days after Peggy’s passing.

As a mother to Anthony, Mike and Marie, grandmother to Laura, Adam, Robert and Ellen, and great grandmother to Naoise, Peggy’s passing has left a huge void that is being felt by her family’s family, her many great friends, her neighbours, and her customers.

Gone but not forgotten is one way of encapsulating Peggy’s vitality. Even Marie, as an assistant principal in a school with 1,550 students says she is still best known as ‘Peggy Hayes’ daughter.’

‘Family was her life,’ said Marie. ‘But she was also a confidante for many and a friend to all. Throughout her life she had a wide circle of friends, both young and old, and the shop on Bridge Street was a safe haven for people to speak about their woes.

‘So many people commented on the fact that they could go in there feeling very low and come out on a complete high,’ said Marie. Humour was dispersed liberally, like medicine, by a woman who had a loud, gregarious and infectious laugh, as well as a wicked twinkle in her eye.

‘Peggy was special from the moment she was born,’ according to Marie. ‘Many people may not know that her parents lost three infant children before Peggy arrived. December the 26th was a special day on the calendar: it was the day Peggy entered the world and it was the day she chose to leave it.’

Peggy met her husband, the late Michael Hayes, in Clonakilty in the 1950s and their life together was one of service to their family and the local community

The couple worked in London for a few years before returning to establish their business in Bridge Street. For a time, the couple lived above the shop until they renovated Peggy’s family home.

Peggy enjoyed superb health throughout her life despite having had a very strenuous job, which included lifting television sets. She was always working, always on the go.

It was only in October that she was hospitalised for two weeks with ill health. And, up until three weeks before her death, Peggy was still doing the accounts – all of the books for the business that is now run by Anthony, as well as Mike’s books as a marine electrician.

The respect shown to Peggy in life is a given but, on the day of her funeral, flags on the piers along the coast were placed at half-mast. It was a nod to the fact Peggy was regarded by many as ‘the queen of Skibbereen.’

Not only was she a forward-thinking woman, ahead of her time, she was also an example to other women at a time, perhaps, when their voices were limited.

Peggy was known to many as a very generous and charitable person. Marie remembers being out and about in the car at Christmas time, delivering food and clothes to people so they would ‘have a Christmas.’

For Marie, and for the rest of the family, Christmas was a special time for them because the door to the shop would be closed for a few days and they would have their hardworking parents to themselves.

‘All of her life, mum was very much a community woman. She was very supportive of other businesses in the town and she had a special grá for young people starting out. She would offer them advice and support because she really loved to see new businesses open up in the area.

Peggy claimed a close connection too with the late Liam O’Regan, owner and editor of The Southern Star. As children they lived close to one another in Lisheen and walked to school together, while for the rest of their respective business lives it was just a short distance from The Southern Star at Ilen Street to Peggy’s domain at Bridge Street.

Marie admitted it is hard to sum up her mother: ‘She was a legend, and I don’t say that because she was my mum, I saw it first-hand.’