BY ROSETTA DONNELLY

MOUNTFIELD centenarian Michael (Mickey-Joe) Gallagher could not believe all the fuss when his 100th birthday dawned last Friday. Not only did he receive a card from the Queen, but he was inundated with cards and presents.

The father of 12 has lived through two world wars, raised his children first on his farm at Cashel and then at Inisclan Road. His wife Annie died 50 years ago and through a lot of hard work he managed to send his children to school and later college.

Most of his children have remained locally with the exception of one to America and another to England. The 12 children and their spouses and 20 grandchildren gathered at the family home last Friday for Mass after which the family went to the Golf Club in Omagh for a dinner and party.

The guest of honour was there to the end of the party accepting good wishes from relatives and joking with everyone. According to his daughter, "he even tucked into the buffet later on in the night".

Mickey-Joe's key to good health is very simple. "I eat porridge every morning and would have a drink or two at the weekend. I would do most things in moderation," he said.

He has a great attitude to life and does not worry about anything. He also reads the daily paper from cover to cover each day which undoubtedly is what keeps his brain so alert.

Mickey Joe was born on January 5,1907 in the townland of Cashel. He worked on the farm trying to improve the lot of his family. In later years Mickey-Joe remembers having a bicycle which was good for transporation on rural roads. "It mean't that I could go to dances further away. It was also good because you could get a woman and actaully leave her home using the carrier on the back of the bike," he joked.

He met his wife Annie at one such dance and the couple married and went to have 12 children. Sadly Annie died aged just 52 when the youngest was still very young.

Mickey-Joe said, "At that time things were very tough. Nowadays farming is done by big machines. Then I cut hay with a scythe, dropped potatoes, churned butter and sowed and harvested the corn. There was no such thing even then as a baler, nor any of the fancy machinery for harvesting". He also sent milk to the creamery.

But he said work such as that harmed no-one. "I think it gives back-bone to people who have to work so hard," he said.

In the mid-fifties, Mickey-Joe bought a car, something was very scarce at the time. "There were no other cars about at the time so I ended up doing taxi for people locally," he said.

In recent times son Raymond has taken over the running of the farm and his wife Josephine runs a homepathic clinic from there. In fact it was a turfhouse which Mickey-Joe built which is home to Josephine's Angel Sanctuary.

Mickey-Joe is looking forward to his next few years "Nowadays people are living much longer so I might have a few years yet," he said.