A GALWAY FAMILY who have been awarded a Guinness World Record for having the most family members reach their 100th birthday is marking the 101st birthday of its youngest sibling today.
Sheila Burns, née Clarke, from Castlenancy, Mullagh in Loughrea was the sixth sibling in her family to reach the milestone of 100 years old last year, and turned 101 today.
Her brother Joe Clarke was the first to reach the milestone in 2001. His brother Charlie followed in 2002, then Pat in 2003, Jimmy in 2006 and Madge in 2014.
The Clarke’s mother, Margaret, also reached the 100-year mark, before she died in a road traffic crash in 1974.
They were already world record holders after Madge passed the milestone, but the extended family recently received notification that their record of six passed 100 years old is the new record.
Sheila is currently in a nursing home and in poor health, so celebrations won’t be on par with these ones witnessed for her birthday last year, her grandson David Burns told TheJournal.ie.
He said: “The thing about them is that they all enjoyed life. They worked hard, but the played hard as well.
They never took life too seriously. Worry wasn’t a thing that they did. Their mother died at 100, but she had just been playing cards. She would go and play in the local hall once or twice a week.
Speaking about his own grandmother, he said that Sheila has always “enjoyed a good party”.
She was a woman born during World War One. She lived through the War of Independence. It’s remarkable when you think about it.
Sheila has lived in Portumna Retirement Village for the last eight years. While some of her other siblings also reached 100 milestone, they have since passed away and she is the last one left.
Commenting on the sheer number of extended family and friends the Clarke’s have built up, Burns said that his grand-aunt Madge’s 100th birthday had 450 people at it.
“That’s only half of how many could have been there,” he said.
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