I WAS educated by the Laois nuns in Monaghan town. Irish was the spoken language of the secondary school - Clochar Lughaidh - but because most of the girls were from English-speaking families a lot of English was also spoken.
I was a day pupil for the first three years of second-level but then my parents decided that I should board as my sisters had done, even though we lived only half a mike from the school.
Initially, I didn't particularly like school and I found becoming a boarder at the age of 15 difficult. It was hard to break into new friendships. Our English and French teacher, Sr David, was my saviour. Realising, I suppose, that I was quiet and rather shy, she appointed me president of the art society - a wonderful title.
Sr David had a tremendous interest in painting and the whole world of art was opened up to me for the first time. The nuns had a marvellous collection of art slides and through them I became acquainted with the great masters.
My introduction to renaissance art came largely through the holy pictures we girls gave to each other during the school's annual retreat.
At school we played camogie, basketball and tennis and I continued to play camogie for Monaghan town for years after I left school.
The nuns were marvellous. In the 1950s a lot of women were still being educated to get married but the Louis nuns were educating women to play a full part in society. As students we were made to feel that college was a place to which we could aspire.
It's hard to believe it now when women are beginning to outnumber men at university, but at the time the nuns were highly innovative.
At school, I developed a great love of the Irish language and culture and a great regard for this country. I'm still a fluent Irish speaker but I regret that I have relatively few opportunities to speak it.
I have nothing but praise for the nuns, they were encouraging and inspirational. At that time second-level schools were all fee-paying. As a guard my father would have found if difficult to send us all six girls and two boys to secondary school without our scholarships.
Several of my sisters went on to university but I decided to opt for teacher training college, Mary Immaculate in Limerick, because it was free.
