Happy Mother’s Day To Annie McDaid

In celebration of Mother's Day on Sunday May 13, we asked Patch readers to write a letter to their mother and let us deliver it. This is Sheila McDaid's letter to her mom:

It’s hard to put into words the feelings that I have for my mother. However, I will try my best.

Her name was Annie Long before marrying my dad and becoming Annie McDaid. That was in 1954. Her life was not an easy life. Born in a little village called Culdaff, County Donegal in Ireland, Annie was one of 10 children. She left her home at the age of 14 to work for a doctor’s family, taking care of the children about a mile or so away from her own home. She gave the money she made to her parents.

At the age of 17, she traveled to Northern Ireland to work, followed by England and Scotland before deciding to come to America for a better life at the age of 24. I can’t imagine the courage it took to make that trip. She was all alone on a ship for eight days (she was sea sick for six of them) before coming to live with an aunt, uncle and cousins whom she had never met before.

Annie made her home in Brooklyn, New York, until she met my dad at an Irish dance. They married, moved to Massachusetts and had seven children. I was born in Salem and lived there until we moved to Peabody in 1971.

Annie was and still is the most selfless woman I know. She devoted her life to her children and to God. Many hurdles and heartaches came her way over the years. Her faith and the love that she has within her heart carried her through those times. At the age of 48 when she was going through a divorce, she went to work at the Towne Lyne House Restaurant. She hadn’t worked outside of the home in over 20 years at that point, other than small home-making night jobs. Although she struggled with learning how to run a computerized system, Annie McDaid persevered. In 1982, she obtained a GED because in Ireland, her school had maxed out in the sixth grade.

Her love of dancing has been passed down to her children, most of her grandchildren and now to her great grandchildren as well. She has a light within that makes those who meet her instantly fall in love with her. Her famous ‘Irish bread’ was given to the Pope in 2008, when he came to America and she and my brother Bernie traveled to Washington for a meeting with him. Even through the church crisis, she never lost faith. She is a devout Catholic who attends St. John’s Church faithfully.

She retired from her school-crosswalk job just this past October, at the age of 91. She had worked for the Peabody School System for 20 years as a crossing guard and loved every minute of it. Her love of children is evident in her gentle smile. My mother is an amazing woman. She has taught me many things in life, the most important of which is love of family.

She is slowing down now, a little hard of hearing and doesn’t dance like she used to, but she still tries if certain songs come on. I am who I am today because of my mother. Not only is she one of the strongest women I know, but she is the most loving. I admire and respect her like no other.

—Sheila McDaid

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See all Mother's Day letters here.

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For next month's Love In A Small Town feature, we want to help you give Dad the best Father's Day gift ever. Write him a heartfelt letter to tell him how much he means to you, email it to locallove@patch.com and we'll feature it in your town's newsfeed on Father's Day. Get more details here.

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Photo Credit: Sheila McDaid