STAFF at the Derry Women’s Centre are completing this year’s Foyle Hospice Female Walk/Run in memory of a much loved former colleague.
Ann Quigley worked in the centre’s crèche for over 10 years and had a wealth of experience when it came to childcare.
Her life revolved around her husband Stephen, sons Stephen and Kevin and seven grandchildren.
“She looked after kids all day in here and then she would go home and look after her grandchildren,” said Dee Wikes who works the centre’s administration department.
“She just loved family life and she was always looking forward to the next Christening or First Communion.
“She would have cooked big spreads for people and she cooked lovely stuff for everyone in here too.
“But she was a very private person too about the stuff that mattered,” added Reyna Downey from who also works in administration.
“Her whole world could have been falling down around her and she would have come in here and she wouldn’t have said anything.”
Ann loved children but she was also a great support to the mothers who used the crèche.
“She would have picked up things that needed seen to and noticed things even before parents themselves recognised them,” explained Carole Mailey, Drop In Support Worker.
“She had an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the children she knew their date of birth, their parents, their likes and dislikes,” said Cathy Kelly, deputy crèche co-ordinator.
“And she had a great relationship with the mothers and they would come and ask to speak to her for advice.
“She always signed up for any training that was offered too. She always wanted to learn new skills.
“She had great patience and she was always looking out for parents and telling them they were doing a great job.”
Great support
Dee said Ann was a dear friend who was always on hand with help and advice.
“The conversation would just flow and we would be putting the world to rights, but she’d always be saying ‘I better get back in’,” she recalled.
“She was a great friend and no matter how down you were she’d make you feel better.
“She was a great support to people and she was straight talking too.
“I remember her saying to me ‘wake up and smell the roses’ that was one of her sayings.”
She also loved TV shows and loved ‘I’m a Celebrity get Me Out Of here’ and ‘Downtown Abbey’.
“She watched all the shows and she would tell you all about them so you didn’t need to bother watching them yourself,” laughed Reyna Downey.
Tests
Ann had been suffering from aches and tiredness last Christmas and in January she went to the doctor for tests.
It was then she received the devastating news that she had bone cancer.
She passed away just six months later at the Foyle Hospice aged just 58.
“It was a very big shock because she wasn’t sick for very long,” said Louise McDonagh who worked with Ann in the crèche.
“We decided then that we wanted to do the hospice walk in her memory.
“It’s very strange without her and it’s hard to imagine she gone.”
Ann will always be remembered at the Women’s Centre as hard working, glamorous and funny.
“At the end of the day she would stand in the crèche, put her lipstick on and say ‘another day another dollar’,” added Cathy.
“I even find myself doing it now.”
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