THE LARGE turnout of mourners from both far and wide, with a large contingent from her medical colleagues, would attest to the esteem in which the late Dr Pat Humphreys was held. The native of Brittas had a long and fruitful life dying just short of her 99th birthday, having enjoyed robust health almost to the very end. She was a well known figure at the wheel of her trusty VW well into her nineties. As well as a major career in the world of medicine ending as a highly regarded consultant anaesthetist working in hospitals such as St John’s, Barringtons, University Hospital Limerick, Croom Orthopaedic and Nenagh, she was also a family doctor, a wife and a mother-of-six on a busy dairy farm. It was no mean feat juggling her time as mother to six young children and building her career in medicine. But medicine was in her blood – her mother Dr May O’Neill, herself the daughter of a pharmacist, had qualified as a doctor in UCD as far back as 1922 when lady doctors were about as rare as snow in the Sahara. From a strong republican background, May was an active member of Cumann Na mBan while in UCD before going on to marry Commandant Bub O’Neill who had been an intelligence officer in Michael Collins’s GHQ squad. May became the long standing and well respected dispensary doctor for the district of Cappamore and it was there that Pat was reared before going to study medicine herself in UCD around 1942, subsequently training in the Richmond Hospital in Dublin. She trained in anaesthesiology at Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1950 and in due course came back and married her lifelong friend Chris Humphreys from Cappamore, an RAF pilot who had just inherited his uncle’s farm in Brittas, near Boher. But as important as medicine was to her, family always came first being the mother of six children, Gerry, Tom, Christopher, Margaret, May and Frank. While this is an impressive line up, when she got married to Chris all the way back in 1957, her stated aim was to have no less than thirteen children! While she didn’t quite achieve the baker’s dozen she ran it close as she had no less than 15 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. On marriage Pat moved into Brittas House and multi-tasked between being a young mother, a consultant anaesthetist and a dairy farmer’s wife. Efficiency was her trademark and she didn’t suffer fools, hypochondriacs or time wasters gladly but for all that her kindness and care for families and patients at their hour of need was legendary. Personally I can recall her kindness and top class professional care to my father in his declining years. At the funeral a fellow mourner recalled a close family member being suddenly struck down but Dr Pat saved the day. On her arrival she took charge of the situation taking equal care of the family and patient and not leaving until well into the early hours. Retirement saw her life take on a new dimension. Always a keen reader she took up an interest in matters antiquarian and became a docent in Limerick’s Hunt Museum and joined the Thomond Archaeological Society participating in several trips abroad to view ancient historic sites. Like her mother she was a keen bridge player and a founder member of the Boher Bridge club as well as playing in Limerick and elsewhere. Her declining years at home in Brittas House, which she shared with her son Gerry and his wife Vicky, were both productive and happy where she adapted to the internet like a teenager and was lovingly looked after by her family. To her family who mourn her most, your loss is also our loss; you have lost a mother but the community have lost a great doctor; she will be missed and remembered fondly by all who had the good fortune to know her.
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