Martina Keegan (16), from Coolock, was known for her bubbly personality and striking beauty. Affectionately called "Cinders" at home because of her love of cleaning out the fire and bringing in the coal.
Introduction
My name is Lorraine Keegan, I am the fifth born child and sister to Mary and Martina Keegan who were both killed in the Stardust disaster. I am going to speak here today on behalf of my sisters Antoinette, Suzanne and brothers John, Neville and Damien, to give you an insight and portrait of how beautiful, dearly loved and very special our sisters Mary and Martina were to us all.
Background
Our sisters' names were Mary Theresa Keegan, aged 19, and Martina Elaine Keegan, aged 16. They were real people, truly loved by their mam Christine Keegan RIP, their dad John Keegan RIP and all of us, their sisters and brothers. Martina was the 4th child born. She was not only our sister, but we also all had a very close bond to her. She too was like a best friend whom we could share our secrets with. We all have so many wonderful memories of her and simply just not enough time to express them all here today.
Martina was born in the Coombe hospital on the 8th October 1964. At the time of her birth, my mam, dad, Mary, Antoinette, and John were all living in a single bedroom in Ballyfermont. We were living with my mam’s sister Phylis, her husband and two children in a two-bedroom house in Ballyfermont.
When my mam and dad came back from England to make a life for themselves and their children, they put their names down on the corporation list to be housed- this would have been early 1963. It broke my mam and dad’s heart to tell the doctors in hospital that they could not bring Martina home as the living conditions were too bad. The bedroom occupied by our two parents, our two sisters and our brother was crammed with beds, a cot which John slept in, suitcases which were all stacked high and contained all of our clothing and there was literally nowhere in the two bedroom house for a new born baby.
But, with the intervention of the doctors in the Coombe Hospital who contacted Dublin Corporation with an urgent request for housing on my parents’ behalf and informing them of the living conditions we lived in. To our parents’ surprise, an inspector immediately called to our auntie’s house to do the inspection and in the following couple of days, our parents got our new three-bedroom family house in Coolock. Our parents were delighted and excited to bring their newborn baby Martina home to a brand-new house with lots of room for us all at last.
I recall our ma used to tell us all stories at night time before we would all go to bed, and the one she almost reminisced on most of all was how they got the house in Coolock. She used to say, "It is all thanks to Martina that we got this house". When our ma told her mother she was after getting a house off the corporation, our granny Daley asked her, "Where is it Chrissie?" and when our ma told granny Daly it was in Coolock, our granny replied, "Jesus, Chrissie, that is out in the country". So, it was through the birth of Martina, we got the family home in Coolock where our parents had four more children: myself, Lorraine, Suzanne and Neville (who were twins) and Damien ten years after the twins.
We had so much love and happiness in our family home and as I talk here today our family home is still a Keegan household with a third generation of family living there.
Martina was absolutely stunningly beautiful. She always said that one day, she was going to be a model. That was her ambition, and we all agree she would have been a great model. She had everything going for her: very attractive, a beautiful figure, natural blonde hair, and a fantastic personality. We honestly know that there wasn’t one fella in Coolock or its surrounding areas who didn’t fancy Martina.
Martina was really beautiful inside and out. She had the most outstanding looks, absolutely stunning. She was a real-life look-a-like of Marilyn Monroe. She was the image of our late ma Christine Keegan RIP. Martina was a very bubbly child. She loved her family so much. She loved her life and all her friends, and basically just loved life in general. Martina was loved by every one of us and everyone who knew her. Inside, she was caring, compassionate, fun-loving, very sociable, witty and an extremely beautiful sister. We were all blessed to have her as our sister.
Martina was a very bright and intelligent child. After primary school, she went on to Coláiste Dhulaigh Secondary School to complete her Intermediate Certificate with excellent results. This was in the year of 1979. It was later, towards the end of June 1979, that Martina got a part-time job working as a waitress in the Claremanor Hotel on the Malahide Road not far from where we lived and she loved this job. Every night she worked, she would come home with a bag full of coins which she got off the customers she would have served all night as a tip for her service of promptness and attention to detail for their orders of drink and beverages. We used to wait up 'til Martina would come home, and we always remember Martina would have earned twice the amount of money in tips as she actually did in her wages. We would all sit on the floor and help her count all her money.
Then the bad news came that Martina was out of a job. The Claremanor Hotel went on fire and was destroyed. This happened in November 1980. Martina was heartbroken, she loved this job. But she didn’t stop at that. She applied for a new job in Superquinn in Northside Shopping Centre and was delighted to hear the great news that she was starting her second job in December for the Christmas season.
Martina continued working her part-time job in Superquinn and continued her education while she was studying to complete a Secretarial Course in Colaiste Dhulaigh which she would have sat her exams in the following June 1981. But the Stardust fire put a halt to all this as Martina died Saturday 14th February 1981 in the Stardust fire.
As there were five girls inside our house, we always remember the house at the back of us had a lot of boys in their house. As young girls and boys growing up, we began talking over the back wall and having a bit of a laugh with them all. Mary would be talking to John, Antoinette would be talking to Brian, Martina would be talking to Aidan and I would be talking to Paul. We all then started going out with them, just as childhood relationships. We never had a phone and at night time we would communicate with them through our back bedroom window to their back bedroom window. This was done through two empty bean cans that we pierced with a hole at the end of them with a string pushed in and knitted tightly and extended from our back window to our neighbours’ at the back of us.
We all just had so much innocent fun and laughter. As time went on, we all went our separate ways but Martina continued dating Aidan and both of them were a really lovely couple and continued going out with each other for a while.
It was around the time when Martina convinced our parents to let her go to the Stardust with her workmates from Superquinn when Martina and Aidan went their separate ways, on good terms of course as they were still great friends. Martina started to date one of her workmates David Morton
from Superquinn and fell madly in love with him.They were both seriously in love with one and other.
As we were all growing up, we would have different chores to do around the house. The one that sticks out in our minds was the coal shed, the cleaning of the open fire and resetting the open fire to be lit again. This was a chore none of us ever liked and yet it was Martina’s favourite. She loved to clean out the fire and getting it all ready to be relit. When the bags of coal would arrive by delivery truck, this was another chore she loved, and she would sort it all out in the coal shed. We would have many a laugh with her, as one minute Martina would be massively beautiful and the next minute she would be covered in black from the coal all over her face, arms and hands. We nicknamed her Cinderella and shortened it at times when we would all be sitting in the living room and Martina would walk through the back our into the kitchen, through the living room to go to the bathroom to wash herself. We would all be laughing at the state she would come inside in. We would say to her "Ah, here comes Cinders". Never, ever in our wildest dreams did we ever think this would be the condition of her body in death.
Stardust Fire
Martina was able to convince our ma and da to let her go to the Stardust, as all her workmates from Superquinn were going. Our parents allowed her to go only if her older sisters or brother were going. On Friday 13th February 1981, Martina finished work early and came home to get herself ready for what was to be a great night, the K-Tel disco competition, and to meet up with her boyfriend David Morton. Our sister Martina was stunning. She could wear a black plastic bag on her and still look beautiful. This particular night she wore her boob-tube top, her lurex belt and her satin black trousers that clung to her, showing her beautiful little petite figure. She looked like a movie star with all attention paid to getting her make-up perfect, her hair etc. and was so looking forward to her night out with Mary, Antoinette, Mary Kenny, Helen and meeting up with her boyfriend David.
They all left the house so excited. When my younger siblings went to bed, myself and my late mam, Christine Keegan, watched the Late Late Show. John came home and we asked why he was home, and he told us he was refused because he was too young, he was 17 years old. When the Late Late Show was over myself and my mum went to bed. I remember being woken up by my mum, she told me that my dad had come home from work and woken her up to check and see if the girls were home because he had heard at his job that the Stardust was on fire. My dad then told me to stay up and listen for Mary, Antoinette, and Martina in case they came home. My mam and dad were out for hours. When they arrived home, they were covered in soot. They didn’t find Mary, Antoinette, or Martina. They both spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the morgue and at 6pm a Garda arrived out with two plastic bags. The Garda asked my parents to identify the jewellery in the bag. One bag contained a necklace and the other two rings. One was a cygnet ring with the initials MK on it and the other was a Claddagh ring which I am wearing on my hand today.
A knock came to the door while I was at home, and it was a Garda looking for me. They wanted me to go into the morgue. When I got there the smell was horrendous. My Dad and Mam asked me to identify a necklace burned beyond recognition which belonged to out sister Mary. When I said this my Mam fell to the floor screaming. My poor Dad tried to catch her, but he couldn’t. I was crying really bad and looking at my poor mam and dad, it was really horrible. My mam started shouting "Mary, Martina, where are you? Mary, Martina, I’m here! Please not my Mary and Martina, not Mary and Martina!" When we got home my brother John was waiting and the younger children were asleep. When John heard the news, he was inconsolable. The day changed the family and we
have never been the same since. Our happy family days were gone, our happy family home was gone.
Since then
We are all heart broken and miss Martina so very much still to this day. We remember Mary, Antoinette, John, and Martina leaving together to meet up with all their friends that night. It has still left a big dark hole in our life that we will never see Mary, Martina, Mary Kenny or David Morton ever again. Martina had all her hopes and dreams for the rest of her life, but all her hopes and dreams were dashed with the Stardust fire.
Mary, Martina, and Mary Kenny didn’t get out that night. Martina’s boyfriend David did, but when he could not find Martina he went back in to save her and he also died in the Stardust fire.
Conclusion
The families of the 48 victims of the Stardust fire have never been the families they were before, and they never will be again. The Keegan family lost everything that day and life has never been the same for us. The Stardust not only killed our beautiful sisters, Mary and Martina, but with the loss of their daughters it also killed our dad, John Keegan, and our mam, Christine Keegan as well.
Martina had brought a Valentine’s card with her that Friday 13th February night to give to David and it was found floating around in water outside the burned-out shell of the Stardust on Saturday 14th February 1981. It was entitled "The Last Valentine" by the media when it was found. I am going to read the verse out now which Martina wrote for her boyfriend David Morton. Their true love was forever.
The Last Valentine
By Martina Keegan
Oh Father up in Heaven, Oh Lord up above,
Please guide and protect the guy that I Love,
Keep him from danger, save him from fear,
Show me the way his actions to steer,
You know Lord, I love him with all my heart,
So keep us together never to part,
But if this guy should ever leave me,
When he gets to heaven, please tell him for me, I love him forever.
But if I am first to rise above, please give him a message, a sign of love,
Written in marker, (pen sorry) sealed with a kiss,
His name is David, the guy that I miss.
(When you’re not around)
