In memory of the wonderful Billy who died during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, may she rest in peace. The excerpt below is from an interview with Billy recorded in 2018 by her sister Dorothy. Dorothy wrote a tribute to Billy and a devastating critique of government responses to Covid in her poem ‘My Sister is Not a Statistic’ which you can listen to here.

Aged fifteen in 1953, Billy talks about her role as ‘second mother’ and its impact on her schooling…

I was the second of ten children and as the babies came along, I took over and looked after them. I adored them, every single one that came along, I adored them … Mammy was always so tired because she was having so many babies, it was— she'd send me out to school in the morning and then I'd go round the back of the house and come back when Daddy was gone. And then I— he didn't know it at the time but mammy was so tired and so worn out, if she wasn't pregnant, she just had a baby and I helped her. I get what— I loved it, make no mistake about it, I loved it, I loved every child that came along and— so I left school really at sixteen. But I— do you know, I never had— I never took an exam, and I remember the nuns saying to me when I was leaving, she said to Mammy, “well Billy didn't get any A levels or O levels” [leaving cert and the inter cert] “but she was possessed of some very fine qualities.” They're the exact words that the nuns said to me— At that age … And, I mean everything was so hard at that time, ah the education was very, very good but if you didn't excel, you were put to one side. And it was— it was very, very hard and of course we had to learn Gaelic and as well English and the cane was used with great vigour. The least mistake that you made … I never liked school because to me it was— I never had a chance to sort of— to get my exams, because I was the one that was looking after the children.

Billy talks to her sister Dorothy. about her exceptional singing voice:

But I was a singer in the choir at home and I was always very lucky because they loved someone that had a good voice … And they were very, very kind to me because of that. If you had some— talent at all and I had, at that time, believe you and me, not now. I had a very, very good voice and so I used to get away with— you know, I was always the chosen one when it came to the— I was head of the choir and I loved it … I won every competition under the rising sun. And of course, fathers in those days, and especially my father—  I sang for the CIE [Córas Iompair Éireann, Irish Transport company] Variety Club [laughs] and I sang for competitions all over the south of Ireland. And won them. And of course, that was my claim to fame and what my father loved, you know, the fact that he could say, “well my daughter won this, and my daughter won that.” He was a holy terror for that.  The Moore's Medal, Thomas Moore's Medal which, you had to be a gen— have a beautiful voice to have that. But the thing is that he used to take me round the whole country, and I was only a child really. And when— even when I came over to England and Daddy and Mammy had come home and we'd go to the pub and the next thing you'd hear “Billy, Billy, get up and sing a song.”And that put me off singing for the rest of my life, when I was about eighteen, nineteen. I just— because as soon as I walked in the door and visitors came, “Billy, sing Danny Boy for them.” [Laughs] … But it was great you know because I had a very easy time and you know, I used to, to wait— Daddy used to wait for me to come home to see if I got first, second or third and if I didn't get first, he was disappointed. That was it. When I think of it now, I think “my God Almighty.” But mind you, I sang in the choir at mass and I sang at my mother and father's funeral.

DOROTHY: I remember. But in terms of your— singing voice wasn't just good, it was exceptional, wasn't it?

BILLY: It was, I can say that without being big-headed about it, it was just beautiful. And I couldn't sing a note now.

DOROTHY: But also, the reason that you stopped was because you just felt under pressure from your father?

BILLY: Terrible pressure. I felt as if I didn't have this voice, that I wouldn't have been looked at.

Billy was interviewed by her younger sister Dorothy. The interview was about Billy from ages fifteen to twenty five and encapsulated her experience of growing up the second eldest in a family of ten. Her role as the 'girl' in the family helping to raise the younger children as they came along – the impact on her education – the genesis of a love for children and family. A free spirited teenager who always found a way to break out of the constraints of the 1940s and always had a rose tinted view of most things including her parents.

For more information on accessing Billy’s full interview or transcript please email faisneis@unaganaguna.org