Nurse/Midwife Gret Martin

Nurse Annie Margaret (Gret) Martin née Felle

Nurse Gret Martin – Public Health Nurse/Midwife for Portumna District Photo courtesy: Ms Joan Martin, USA

Introduction

Margaret (Gret) Felle was born in 1911 in Killimor, Co Galway. She was one of five children born to Thomas and Winifred Felle. Her mother was Winifred Power from Power’s Cross. Her parents bought the Carriage houses from Crannagh’s great house that had been burned down during our troubled history, and the family moved there when Gret was 6 or 7 years old. Crannagh is situated about 4 km from Abbey and 8 km from Portumna in Co Galway.

Career

When Gret Felle was 20 years of age she went to England to train as a nurse.

Gret Felle. Photo courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

Her training was at St George’s Hospital in London where she qualified after three years of study. A Certificate issued to her on 22^nd June 1934 shows that following an examination, she was admitted by the General Nursing Council for England and Wales and entitled to use the title of Registered Nurse. Subsequently, she received a Certificate from the London County Council confirming her qualifications on 28^th January 1935.

Certificate issued by London County Council. Courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

Gret in her Nursing Uniform. Photo courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

In England, Gret met and got married to Brendan Martin and they had five children born during the war years – 1939 to 1945. Due to the disasters of the war, blitz, blackouts, rations etc, the Government encouraged parents to move their children out of the city. Four of the Martin children were sent to Ireland and it was some years later before the entire Martin family moved back to Crannagh.

Although Gret was a qualified nurse she did not have a regular or permanent job and worked as a private nurse or filled in on a temporary basis for other nurses in their absences. It is interesting that families in the Abbey area remember stories of Nurse Felle delivering babies in the late 1930s.

Gret continued with her Midwifery studies in England and was awarded a Certificate from South Shields General Hospital – Public Health Department – in May 1944, certifying her training and success as a pupil midwife, for part 1 examination of the Central Midwives Board, London.

Certificate from South Shields General Hospital. Courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

By 30^th June 1945, Gret had completed her Midwifery training and passed the examinations of the Central Midwives Board for England and Wales. From the Lincolnshire Nursing Association records, we know that Nurse Martin worked as a relief District Nurse Midwife during 1945/46 and was highly recommended.

Reference from Lincolnshire Nursing Association. Courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

Nurse Martin’s qualifications as a Nurse/Midwife in England were later accepted in Ireland and Gret was given her Certificate in Dublin under the official Seal of the Central Midwives Board on 26^th January 1948.

Central Midwives Board Certification. Courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

Employment

When Gret and her family returned to Ireland and were living in Crannagh, she applied for the advertised post of Midwife of the Portumna Dispensary District, all the time continuing to serve the area as Nurse/Midwife as required. Her application was acknowledged in March 1949 but it was not until May 1957 that she received approval of her appointment to the post of General Nurse for Portumna Dispensary in a temporary capacity as from 1^st June 1957. Although a permanent post was pending, the letter of appointment to the temporary post, pointed out that, being a married woman, Gret was not eligible to be appointed to the permanent post ‘when this appointment is being made’.

Letter indicating that Married Woman is not eligible for Permanency: Courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

However, a letter to Nurse A M Martin dated 3^rd January 1959 informed her that the Department had sanctioned her appointment as Public Health Nurse in a permanent capacity. Her daughter Joan, writing to Abbey Heritage from her home in California, says she “distinctly remembers the day her mother got that letter saying she was now the district nurse for the Portumna area/district. She was elated”. District nurses had all the duties to do with nursing. Gret gave injections at schools, she visited TB patients, she sat with the dying and laid out the bodies. She did house visits to people who had minor accidents, cuts and bruises and she delivered babies.

Confirmation of Permanent Appointment. Courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

Family Memories of Nurse Martin’s Nursing and Midwifery Career

Nurse Martin was highly respected in the Portumna district in which she served and during her career she delivered hundreds of babies. She rode her bike morning, noon and night wherever she was called. Her own children remember being tucked in bed at night in the cold and there would be a knock on the window, “nurse, nurse get up” and Gret would get up, grab her black bag which was known in the house as “Mammy’s maternity case, which none of us were ever allowed to even touch, never mind look to see what was inside”.

When the children were teenagers their neighbours would tell them that they heard their mother ride her rattly bike at 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning, singing as she rode along. Her daughter Joan remembers asking her mother why she sang and she said it was because she was afraid at night, riding alone, so while she sang she knew that people could hear her and know it was her if anything happened to her.

It was the middle of the 1950s when the family got an automobile and several years later before Nurse Martin learned to drive the car. Her children remember that initially their mother only drove forward, reversing was absolutely out of the question and she was not concerned about what gear she drove in, “second or third meant the same to her”!

Nurse Martin delivered lots of children in Travellers’ camps, and was also godmother to several of them as they couldn’t find anybody else to sponsor them at their baptisms. Her daughter Joan remembers Travelling Ladies coming to their house with kids of four or five years and reminding her mother that she was the child’s godmother.

Joan’s abiding memory of her mother was that she never, ever discussed with anybody her patients ailments or how people lived. She did not carry stories, had the reputation of being ‘closed mouth’ which today we would call being highly professional. She cared about her patients, she was sympathetic to their situation, she cared about her job and her position, she was respected. She was called ‘Nurse Martin’ and she gladly and proudly accepted the title. She had earned it and her family were proud of her too.

Interestingly, Nurse Martin’s daughter Helen, now deceased, also trained as a nurse in London in the 1960s and last year 2023, her granddaughter, Imelda Martin, who also trained in London, became the 3^rd generation Nurse Martin. And so the great tradition of providing nursing care, espoused by the first Nurse Martin, has been handed down and is being carried on by the most recent professional, Nurse Imelda Martin!

Retirement and Conclusion

Nurse Gret Martin retired at 65 and spent the next 22 years gardening, reading and drinking tea with her friends. She was an interesting, educated woman with the very best sense of humour. We are indebted to Nurse Martin’s daughter Joan who, although now living in California, volunteered to share so much detailed information with us. Joan also sent us the excellent documentation, letters and photographs included in this article, in her correspondence with us and any comments in quotation marks are direct quotes from Joan.

Retired Nurse Martin, some years before she died. Photo courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

The final letter to Nurse Martin was sent from the Western Health Board on 23^rd September 1986. It was an invitation from the Public Health Nurses to attend as their guest a retirement function for a retiring Superintendent Public Health Nurse and included arrangements to collect and return Nurse Martin safely after the function. This serves to endorse the esteem in which Nurse Martin, affectionally known as Gret throughout her career, was held by all her colleagues.

Invitation from Western Health Board. Courtesy: Ms Joan Martin

Nurse Martin’s Final Resting Place

Nurse Gret Felle Martin died in 1999 having given a lifetime of dedicated service. As the Public Health Nurse for the wider Portumna district, Nurse Martin was highly regarded, respected and remembered for the wonderful service she gave. Her many friends and neighbours still speak fondly of her and praise the wonderful person she was. Nurse Martin was laid to rest in Kilnalahan Cemetery, Abbey with other family members. It is fitting that each year an outdoor Mass is celebrated in Kilnalahan Cemetery, Abbey on the 15th August to remember all the people who have died and who are buried there. May Nurse Gret Martin enjoy the rewards of her great service as she rests in Eternal Peace.