Registered in Ireland: 523712. But at least theyre talking, at least theyre open, at least theyre committed to working together. They were hit with an absolute avalanche of media coverage. Your guilt or innocence was beside the point. "They wouldn't deviate from their statement in any way," he says now, by phone from Sligo. The reduction is not, as some might presume, made up for by a rise in the number of abortions, as the number of Irish teenagers opting for termination has always been very low and halved over the 10 years to 2012. On January 31, 1984, three. Jennifer Ann (Gutknecht) LaFond, 53, of Wellington passed away Wednesday, July 1, 2020 at her home. Emily O'Reilly, then a reporter with the Sunday Tribune, was assigned the story. That Tuesday morning the sun rose over the town at 8.14am. Its just unbelievable.. What would happen to his parish? Diarmuid Lovett told the inquest: The family was united and we never at any stage knew she was pregnant.. Summary. Pathologist Ken Cunnane reported that in his opinion, Anns death had been caused by irreversible shock. [19], She sought the opinions of local people on the pregnancy and death of Ann Lovett. Lovett then pleaded with McDonnell not to tell anybody. . It was common knowledge in the town that the school had consulted solicitors before writing this statement. Anne married Allan George Springer on month day 1945, at age 18 at marriage place. That Ann was pregnant and not married. She denied categorically that she was pregnant, laughing it off, and said shed just put on a bit of weight. What happened to Ann was such a big thing at the time, and very, very, very unusual., Carl Sullivan, who was a student in the school at the time, and who now runs a photography business in Longford, also recalls the atmosphere in the school during those days. His family and friends were first in line to him. She was very, very outgoing, very bubbly, and a bit of a tomboy. I remember how it fanned out like an umbrella until it covered the town. The inquest into the deaths of Ann and Pat Lovett was held at 3pm on February 21st, 1984. I know very little about the situation personally. Ann Lovett, who died aged 15 after giving birth at the grotto in Granard, Co Longford, in 1984. Granard garda had sent a file on the case to the coroner, which has never been made public. Just 15 years old, Ann left class at the Mercy College in Granard, Co Longford, during a wet and windy lunchtime on Jan 31, 1984, made her way to the local grotto and gave birth to a baby boy under the watch of a statue of the Virgin Mary. I cant remember a single thing about how she phrased it, just that Ann was dead. Ann Lovett, aged 15, was found dead beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary. It was then 4.14pm, and Gallagher phoned the local doctor, Dr Tom Donoghue, who was in his surgery. Back at the Copper Pot, Patricia Lovett had come home and out on Main Street word was rapidly spreading about what the three boys had seen at the grotto. Or helped give us an opportunity to grieve. One issue is the cost its expensive. What followed will be familiar to anyone who knows about rural Ireland in the 1980s. [14], Rumours also abounded about the identity of the child's father and the difficult family circumstances in which Ann herself was reared.[15]. Mary couldnt leave the house, as she was babysitting. By the time of her death on January 31, 1984, the pair were no longer together, having drifted apart some months before but McDonnell told the Irish Times that he believed they would end up together again at some point. Jessie Henry Lovett . You can have schools in the same town taking very different approaches to sexuality education. Mary Maguire, Ann Lovett's best friend at the inquest. There was a chip shop in the middle of the town. A drawing by Ann Lovett for her school magazine Feach which was reproduced in the Longford Leader, Nuala Ledwith, who was two years ahead of Ann at school, describes her as pixie-faced, with dark-brown hair, about shoulder length, slight and not much more than five-foot-two in height. It was very morose . Gemma Hussey, now 79, then minister for education, tells The Irish Times she is not aware of any department report at the time in connection to Ann Lovett's case. Read more:Death of 15-year-old Ann Lovett in childbirth changed Ireland, This is the biggest story Ive ever worked on. She was a pretty girl. The secret of what happened is with that little girl in the grave, he said. But what I remember most is the shame. Gardai announced the weapons used were a knife and a hatchet. She could have been any Irish girl of that generation. Some names in this report have been changed. The Longford Leader, in its first report on the story on February 10th, asked the same question: who knew? Some made even darker allegations. Her school uniform was soaked, and she was cold to the touch. Bishop O'Reilly told The Irish Times in a statement he had never met McDonnell.[1]. If I had known, I would have made sure that she would have got proper care and assistance. She wept as her statement was read out. He also believes that when the article was not carried in that week's Longford Leader, the same person contacted the Sunday Tribune. I am just too sad to talk about it.. My firm belief is what happened should not have been covered by RT or the newspapers: it should have been kept parochial, local. The Lovetts youngest son, Stephen, was also at home and the pair of them went at once to the grotto. They said there was a girl after falling, he said. Ann Lovett and her child were quietly buried three days later in Granardkill cemetery. The bodies remained at Mullingar Hospital until Thursday, February 2nd, when they were removed to St Marys Church in Granard. When Eugene Gallagher arrived on the scene for the second time, Canon Gilfillan was administering the Last Rites to Ann and her baby. It was already getting dark the way it used to in the countryside in the 1980s with fewer streetlights. Copyright 2023 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. It was not quite immediate business as usual, but it was definitely a get-back-to-work kind of thing, Michael says. Its not that small a town and we dont all know everything about each other and we didnt then either. The headline on Emily OReillys report in the Sunday Tribune, on Sunday, February 5th, 1984, The Irish Times front pages story about Ann Lovett's death on Monday, February 6th, 1984. Ann could have gone to any woman in Granard. I took stock of her then. Will the protocol deal bring prosperity to Northern Ireland. Ann Lovett, 15, died after giving birth in a churchyard grotto beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary on January 31, 1984. It was still raining heavily, and dusk was beginning to fall. Hanna Lovett b: 30 MAR 1656 in Braintree, Norfolk, Ma Johannah Lovett was maid servant to Dea. The inquest heard that there was no trouble at home. A colleague got an anonymous call about Ann Lovett's death, but it as too late for that edition of the weekly paper, which had already gone to press. They heard moaning coming from the grotto, and they discovered Ann lying on her back and the dead baby nearby. Or even suspected that anybody had rumors or anything about her. The pub didnt seem to open much, or get much trade. The next time Dr Donoghue saw Ann Lovett was two months later, dying at the grotto. Mother of William M Bryant; Elizabeth Jane Bryant; John D Bryant; Nancy Clementine Bryant; James Marion Bryant and 5 others. Sometime between 12.45pm and 4pm, she lay down beside the workhouse chapel railings, removed her underwear, and gave birth in the rain. Of Ann, she said, We were like sisters. The inquiry that an outraged Nuala Fennell had called for into Ann Lovetts death never happened. Diarmuid Lovett did not get up until about 9am that day. He was full term and weighed 6 pounds. But she didnt. I saw it happen. I remember when they were taking the coffin out of the hearse, there was a collective gasp . Let no-one assume otherwise or call our response a hostile silence.. The 2015 Poetry Competition "A Poem for Ireland" shortlisted the 1991, This page was last edited on 1 February 2023, at 12:19. born to Richard Janney Sr and Ann Taylor married David Heston Lovett on 20 April 1837 in Bucks, Pennsylvania, USA per U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 record states that Mercy Ann Lovett dies. And she done that for a reason. We respect and accept the personality and individuality of each of our pupils. Ann Lovett, 15, died after giving birth in a churchyard grotto beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary on January 31, 1984. A Catholic grotto to Virgin Mary, similar to the one Ann Lovett died beneath alone and shamed in childbirth. And thats when the penny dropped for me. Eugene McGee was the then editor of the Longford Leader. Had the tragic remains of that baby been found today, the State would immediately have taken DNA, and it would have been preserved for any future inquiry.. Granard was no different from any town at the time, he says. Nuala Ledwith, who lived three miles outside Granard, Co Longford, at the time, is talking about the removal of Ann Lovett and her stillborn son to St Marys Church in Granard on Thursday, February 2nd, 1984. His occupation was Bus Driver. Father of William Trowbridge; Gilbert Trowbridge; Thomas Trowbridge and Edmund Trowbridge. Ann told me she was pregnant and she didnt know what to do about it. Ann Lovett (6 April 1968 31 January 1984)[2] was a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Granard, County Longford, Ireland who died giving birth beside a grotto on 31 January 1984. Brother of Isaac Montgomery Lovett; Joseph Walter Lovett; Alpharetta Lovett; Bessie Lovett; Linney Lovett and 4 others. Patricia Lovett lost another daughter, 14-year-old Patricia, to an overdose of prescription drugs just three months after she buried Ann, and her husband, Diarmuid, died of a stroke three years later, so local people are loathe to add to her suffering. The Irish Times made sustained attempts to contact a number of people associated with this story. I was standing in the doorway of Paddy OHaras pub with a group of lads, and Ann was coming from the shops, and she walked past us and said hello to everybody and as she walked away, one of the lads said, She doesnt look pregnant to me, he explained. The priest's response to his request for help was; "It's a doctor you need".[11]. Her newborn son died as well. In front of the assembled media, Sr Plunkett sat among her silent staff and read out the following words in a shaky voice. The other issue is the law. It was an awful thing, because at that time, a teenage pregnancy was awful.. After that morning assembly in the gym, students were expected to return to class. Ann was still conscious. Macnamara speculates it likely to be the Wykes who witnesses the . That was the way it was for any other kind of meeting that we had. Thousands vanished into it. Niall Behan, CEO of the Irish Family Planning Association, echoes those concerns, particularly around sex education which, while mandatory in schools, is of varying quality. 1842. In summing up, coroner Patrick Mangan said it was clear Anns parents did not know she was pregnant, otherwise they would have sought help for her. Ann Lovett is after dying, they told her bluntly. 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