The Life of Mary Daly - A Biography by her son Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly

[Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly]

Mary Daly
 
A Biography by her son
Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly
© 6175 SC / 2011 AD/CE by Daniel Daly & Noahide Books
 
Mary Daly was born in Kingston upon Hull in England in the United
Kingdom on the 7th of July 1937.  She was the third child of Tom Baker
and Gladys Baker, her two older brothers being Terrence and Gerald.
 
Mum remembers the war years.  Hull was bombed a fair bit when she was
a wee little one.  She saw real war devastation, but seemed to come
through unscathed emotionally.
 
She studied at a Girls Catholic School, taught by French Nuns, in
Hull, and then worked in various jobs, before meeting my father Cyril
Daly on a Lourdes pilgrimage in the mid 1960s.
 
They married and Matthew, my older brother, was born on the 21st of
October 1969.  They lived in Jindabyne to start with in New South
Wales, but then moved to Berridale, not far from there.
 
My mum and dad are big parts of my childhood memories.  There was one
time when I was outside of 7 Bent Street in Berridale were we lived
and I wanted to get onto the roof.  I had explored the entire
perimeter of the House and deduced I needed a ladder.  Dad had a heavy
metal blue ladder (which is currently rusting in the back yard of 29
Merriman) which I attempted to unfold to put against the house.  But I
was too little and got caught in between the folds of the ladder.  I
screamed and screamed for mum for a number of minutes, before she
finally appeared.  I was so thankful to her for it.
 
She tells me that one of her memories is me coming home from school on
my first day and saying ‘Thank God for That’.  Mum has a definite
English accent, still does, and has not yet taken out Australian
Citizenship, but is a permanent resident.  But she calls herself and
Aussie Pom because she has lived in Australia longer than she lived in
England.
 
In Berridale we went to the Catholic Church from my earliest
memories.  Mum and Dad would take us in the car, the family, and I
would sit there, staring at the cross, not thinking much except that
it was boring.  Mum and Dad prayed the rosary at home in those days
and we occasionally had people over to pray at nights.  Mum was in the
kitchen a lot and the radio seemed to be perpetually on.  I remember
hearing the new songs and learning them quickly, and liking them.  Mum
likes some of the old artists from around the 1950s, but doesn’t
really listen to them at all.  She listens to classical music mainly
when she listens to music.
 
There was a time when Grandma Gladys in England sent us a big box of
stuff from England.  We got lots of surprises.
 
Mum would visit Mrs Luchetta in Berridale a lot and some of the other
Berridale residents.  She always seemed to be very chatty, and we
would stay behind after church was finished for mum to chat to her
friends, which she has never stopped doing after church and still
does.
 
I remember that Mum went into hospital a while after Greg was born,
and she had a miscarriage.  I figured that out in time.
 
When Greg was little I remember wanting to hold him, but mum said
Brigid would, because she was older or something like that.
 
We travelled to Cooma via the bus when we started school.  I remember
one time, coming home, we had missed mum at the bus stop in Cooma and
came home alone.  There was a big doll she had made, and I was ever so
grateful to her and hugged her for it. It meant the world to me and I
really loved my mother for it.
 
I remember riding my first bike out the front of 7 bent street on the
road.  Mum would look at us and I would shout ‘Watch me’ as all kids
do.
 
We moved to Cooma around 1980 and the ‘Collins’ were across the road. 
We lived at 6 Bradley Street, and Mum became friends with Mrs Collins
across the road, who also went to the Catholic Church.  Us kids played
with Peter Collins a lot, who also went to the Catholic School and was
in Jacinta’s year.  Peter’s cousin was David Lancaster, who was in my
year.  David was a pretty big guy, and I liked him, but I was never
too popular with him or the other kids in the Catholic school.  At
times I was a little bit befriended, but not much.  However, around 15
I befriended some of the kids from the Public school and had a new
gang.  That is were I seemed to fit in and probably explains why I
eventually left Catholicism.  Sort of, in my mind, Noahide equates
with ‘Public Schools’ (aka State Schools in Australia), and
Catholicism is for Christians.  Even though, as a courtesy to Jesus, I
attended the Catholic Church last Sunday (I go a couple of times a
year) mainly to honour the early commitments I made as a Catholic in
my youth, I really am not a believer in Catholicism or Christianity. 
But, in truth, Jesus, to my mind, just started a ‘Torah-Like’ ministry
anyway, and the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus probably do
deserve to last forever and, in a non Christian sense, he deserves to
have a spiritual community based on his teaching enduring throughout
eternity.  Sort of a ‘Kosher Jesus friendly Assembly’ which is NON-
Christian and NON-Messianic in any way, because he WASN’T the Messiah,
but he taught some good ideas anyway.  To my mind, he wanted to start
a spiritual community, so for his evangelistic efforts he deserves
some sort of permanent legacy.  Jews sometimes call him one of their
own and a watered down gospel could maybe one day pop up in some sort
of Jewish assembly which didn’t mind Jesus on a personal human level. 
I had some ideas for a ‘Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth Ministries’ which
removed all the ‘Christ’ ideas from Matthew Mark and Luke and all the
scathing anti Jewish comments (which I think Jesus is now over with in
his heavenly domain – were I do believe he lives alongside the
righteous who have died) and start a Jew friendly Jesus club, for want
of a better word.  Someone might do that one day.
 
Mum is a big Jesus fan, of course.  Quite into him these days, and
serves on the altar as a ‘Minister of the Eucharist’.  She is FAITHFUL
and has hardly missed a Sunday service in her whole life, just like my
father, and my older brother Matthew.  My brother Gregory goes a lot
of the time as well still.  I personally really wish I had a Noahide
fellowship here in Canberra to attend, as I would probably go
practically every day – but Noahidism is just beginning, so I
concentrate on my personal studies and devotions.
 
Mum went to ‘Galong’ in New South Wales to the various Catholic
retreats at the monastery there throughout my years growing up, with
Dad.  We kids were bought along a few times, and it is a lovely
place.  You definitely notice the peace and tranquillity in the place
which is through all the prayers of the saints offered up to God.  I
am quite sure God keeps faith with Catholics as well and loves them
dearly.  I just think they haven’t quite worked out yet that he isn’t
a Trinity and connected to Jesus in that sense.  They are two separate
beings.  Jehovah’s witnesses know this – Catholics will hopefully
eventually work that out.  But God definitely loves the faithful
Catholic Church, and they are his people too.  As it goes for all the
people of the God of Noah and Abraham.
 
Mum is of average height for a woman, a little bit of extra weight,
which has diminished in her older age.  She reads constantly, mainly
thrillers and crime dramas, but other stuff as well.  She watches a
lot of the British television programs on crime drama, as well as
being a big fan of ‘Home and Away’.  Her best friend here in Canberra
is ‘Trish Kirby’ who is a strong theological lady in the local
Catholic Church here in Gowrie were they both attend.  Trish’s husband
‘Ron’ is non-religious, but I think he is a great guy, and there grand
children ‘Liam’ and ‘Noah’ are tops.  Trish has been a strong friend
of mums for years, and gave the eulogy a few years ago at dad’s
wedding.  Dad lived to 84.  Mum misses him, but life goes on in the
end.  She keeps his photos up around the house.  They were a faithful
couple in their marriage – definitely took it seriously – and were
great examples to me because of it.
 
Religiously she is strong in the faith, without being too strict or
too modernistic.  She feels there is something to Christianity simply
because it has continued to exist for so long.  She might be right.
 
She has standard catholic paraphernalia around the house, including a
small Jesus statue, some pictures and other stuff, but doesn’t go on
about it too much during the week.  She studies the bible from time to
time these days, and seems to be keeping the faith even stronger in
her elderly years.  To my mind she has definitely ‘Walked the Walk’
and has never slacked off.  She is a genuine Catholic Christian. 
Nothing fake about her (or dad for that matter on the issue).  She has
worked with St Vincent de Paul society, as has dad, and done teaching
of RCIA and taught religion to little kids in school.  She has been
quite involved with the Catholic community her whole life, and is the
‘Real McCoy’ when it comes to a practicing Catholic.
 
She probably gets along a bit better with her daughters than her sons,
but this seems to be a feminine bonding thing.  But we are a strongly
connected family, and it is good living here with her at 29 Merriman,
despite our arguments which crop up.  She gives as good as she gets,
but she always knows when to give it a rest.
 
Another of mum’s strong friends is ‘Jill Torley’ who now lives over in
Western Australia.  Jill writes letters to mum a lot (and she also
sends me birthday cards) and we have known Jill and her family for
years now.  Jill is a very faithful Catholic like mum, and a big
reader of the Bible as well.  Jill has a few sons, and Paul Torley has
been close to the family as well.  Mainly in Cooma years, even though
he now lives in Canberra as well like us, but he has a lot of children
so is a very busy man.  Jill sometimes does artwork in the letters she
sends, and writes little short stories from time to time.  She is
quite a good artist.  Of course, she trained in music and is a piano
teacher.  These days she is well retired from that life as far as I
understand it.
 
Mum studies a lot with father Michael Fallon’s scripture studies
groups at the ‘Curtin Catholic Centre’ in Woden.  Michael has written
a large number of commentaries on the bible, and his translations of
the text are very good.  We have a copy of his ‘Isaiah’ commentary,
and it illuminates the text in a way I hadn’t seen before.  He is a
quite competent priest, and currently is parish priest in the Kippax
church.  He has a website if people want to go looking for it.
 
Mum likes shows like ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and likes to watch
‘Sunrise’ on channel 7 a lot.  She is usually busy enough and is out
most days of the week doing this or that with some group or another. 
She has a form of diabetes and gets medication for it, but a recent
medical improvement has helped her ‘Sugar Levels’ quite a bit.  She is
doing well now.
 
I think, when all is said and done, Mary Daly will likely be very
happy with her life.  She has led a positive, helpful life – been
faithful to God with the knowledge she has – married, raised 5 good
kids, and been a positive servant of the community.  She has a good
reputation with a lot of people and, to my way of thinking, has
benefited mankind because of it.  She leaves a good legacy to her
offspring.
 
When she finally passes I will do up a myspace site dedicated to her,
but can’t do that because she objects to such things.  But when she is
dead I will do it anyway wether she likes it or not.  And while she
probably wouldn’t like me posting this biography online, I am going to
do it anyway simply because I want to make sure she is remembered.  I
think, in time in the next life, she will approve of what I have done.
 
All things considered, Mary Daly was and is and has been a good
virtuous woman of God.  She would be the first to say she was not
perfect, but she has always cared, always loved, and always done her
best.  I am proud of her.
 
 
Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly
Canberra, Australia
2011 AD / CE
6175 SC