Dolly O'Reilly, RIP
Willie Halcrow has drawn my attention to a death notice in this week's "Shetland Times" (8 November 2024).
O'REILLY - Dolly (nee Anderson). Wife of Peter and mother of Cathie, Jim, Barbara, Siobhan and Kevin. Died peacefully at Heath Lodge Care Home, Holt, Norfolk, on 21st October 2024, aged 90 years. Her laughter and love of life will be forever with us.
Dolly Anderson was one of our first parishioners when the Jesuits took on Shetland as a parish in 1954. Before that date, St Margaret's had been served on an occasional basis by the parish priest of Orkney. There were only 18 Catholics in Shetland in 1954 but the Jesuits sent two priests (Fr Joseph Whitaker, SJ, and Fr Frank Cairns, SJ) to develop the church here. Our parish registers begin at this point.
Dolly appears on the opening pages of our Baptism, Confirmation and Marriage registers. She was born on 20th July 1934, the daughter of Robert Andrew Anderson and Jessica (Jessie) Anderson, nee Nicholson. She was 19 when she received baptism at St Margaret's on 18th April 1954, presumably as an adult convert preparing for marriage. There is some confusion about her name, she is entered in the baptism register (second entry) as Joanna Maria Anderson but Fr Whitaker has placed in brackets "Dolly, Jessie". She was then living at 9 North Lochside Road, Lerwick.
The first picture shows Dolly Anderson being confirmed by Bishop Francis Walsh (Bishop of Aberdeen) on Sunday 27th June 1954. Fr Whitaker is assisting. This was the bishop's first visit to Shetland after the parish was assigned to the Jesuits. Her sponsor was Mrs Jessie Gray, the mother of the girl in the second picture, Isabel Gray. Dolly appears more clearly in this picture as sponsor to Isabel, having just been confirmed herself a few minutes before. The main altar is still recognizable although of course the sanctuary was remodelled in the 1960s and a new altar brought forward. Dolly appears in the Confirmation Register (1st entry) as "Joanna (Jessie) Maria Anderson. She took St Colette as her confirmation patron.
Within three months Dolly was back at St Margaret's for her wedding. She married Peter Reilly on the 23rd September 1954. In her entry in the Marriage Register (Number 3) her name is given as Jessie ("Dolly") Anderson. She was 20 years of age and looks radiantly happy in this picture as she leaves the church after the wedding. Peter was four years her senior. He was born in Surrey and had served with the RAF in Northern Ireland before moving to Lerwick near the beginning of 1952 as a meteorologist. He lived at the Observatory. This photo has a special interest for us at the moment since it looks through to one of the four windows on the south wall of the church and confirms that the original glass from the 1911 building was in square panes. We are currently raising funds to replace the diamond pane windows which were substituted for the original glass. The most likely date for the replacement was between this photo in 1954 and the redecoration and re-dedication of the church in 1958, after the Jesuits took responsibility for the parish.
The wedding reception was at The Excelsior, upstairs. From left to right: Mrs Anderson, Peter Reilly, Dolly and Provost Anderson. We still have Fr Whitaker's notes for the wedding in the archive. The couple moved south but kept contact with the parish. The photographs used in this blog are from the albums prepared for the Centenary of St Margaret's Church in 2011. A note from that date states: "Peter has since died but Dolly remains a regular visitor to Shetland as she still has family here, and told us of the many delightful evenings she and Peter would spend with the two priests playing bridge. Fr Whitaker took this all rather seriously and apparently would get very annoyed if the play wasn't of the highest standard! Dolly also remembers playing 'a strange little pedal organ' and says that some of the notes were a bit wayward."
May she rest in peace!
