Lisburn woman Eileen passes away in her 90th year

Mrs Drayne who passed away at Thompson House received the MBE in the Birthday Honours.

She is the wife of the late Seamus and is survived by Donal, Sheelagh, Martin, Michael, Peter, Kieran, Kevin, Dinah, James and Eamonn.

Requiem Mass was at St. Patrick’s Church, with interment in Holy Trinity Cemetery.

Some years ago Mrs Drayne travelled to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh during Holy Week to receive Maundy Money from the Queen.

Mrs. Drayne was a resident of Pond Park Care Centre.

She devoted a great deal of her life to community work and in 1988 received the MBE in recognition of her efforts on behalf of ‘Meals on Wheels’.

She was involved with Save the Children Fund and a lifelong member of St. Patrick’s Church carried out a great deal of Apostolic work.

She had been, for over 50 years, a member of Magheragall Womens Institute and served two terms as its President.

During the early days of the company Mrs. Drayne’s late husband James sold milk door to door in and around Lisburn.

People filled their jugs from a ten gallon can on the back of a pony and trap. Her husband passed away in 1977.

Mrs. Drayne’s brother in law Dermot was in charge of milking operations who had a keen eye for judging a good milking cow.

In her 80’s she completed a 10 week course entitled ‘Computers for Beginners’ and realised a computer featuring the correct software can complete the same task in a matter of minutes.

During the early days of the company most people did not have a fridge and Mrs. Drayne believed the creamy milk they supplied was easier to keep fresh.

Draynes continues to flourish by supplying milk to hotels and restaurants and for many years Mrs. Drayne manually administered more than 1000 milk accounts every month.