I told him about you

24 April 1911. Eileen O’Connor’s father, Charles, dies from pneumonia following treatment for ca

24 April 1911. Eileen O’Connor’s father, Charles, dies from pneumonia following treatment for carcinoma of the liver. His Requiem Mass is conducted by his brother-in-law, Rev Father Francis Kilgallin, a parish priest in the-then Diocese of Maitland. Charles’ death plunges the O’Connor family into financial difficulty. For Eileen, then aged 19, it proves to be a paralysing blow, both physically and emotionally. She was devoted to her father. After her First Communion, Charles asked Eileen about her prayers to Our Lord. She said, “I told him all about you, Daddy.” Eileen later gave her father’s gold pocket watch to co-founder of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor, Rev. Edward (Ted) McGrath msc, in return for his much cheaper ‘tin pot’ watch. Father McGrath returned the watch to Mother Superior Cissie McGrath in 1958.