Julia's story from the Tuam Home

ON the night that Hurricane Debbie swept its dark and stormy way across the four corners of Ireland, a tumult of another kind raged in the heart of Tuam. On that September 16, 1961, Julia Carter Devaney, along with caretaker John Cunningham and Nurse Burke, turned the key in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home on Dublin Road for the last time, to the shriek of the wind tearing slates from the roof.
Thus were locked away stories of separation and loneliness, sadness and heartache — and some laughter.
Julia had spent most of the previous 40 years in the Home, first as a child and later as an employee, and it had formed her for life. Fortunately, her story was not lost.
During the late 1970s or early 80s Julia recorded her memories on a series of tape recordings made by the late Rebecca (Rabie) Millane, whose family had a shop on High Street, where the High Cross Pharmacy is now situated.