"Maura and Joe"
by Dianne Trimble
A friendship and love story that spanned more than 50 years had its beginning in the tranquil townland of Derrycullion, several miles outside Brookeborough. Twenty year old Maura McNulty was a lively, redhaired girl who lived with her family in the farmhouse they had occupied since the nineteenth century. Joe Faria was a 26 year old U.S. army rifleman, stationed a few miles from the McNulty farm, at Ashbrooke army camp. He had moved from the Portuguese Azores to America, in the late 1930s, and worked on a farm in Rhode Island until he was drafted in March 1941. His military service was due to end in March 1942 but the December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbour changed that. America entered the Second World War and, in 1943, his unit was despatched to join the conflict in Europe.
The day before St Patrick's Day, March 16, 1944, Joe went to the McNulty farmhouse, on the Raw Road, looking for fresh eggs. Mrs McNulty took an immediate liking to him and before he left, wth typical country hospitality, she invited him to come for tea on Sunday. Joe became a regular visitor at the McNulty home. Maura's family welcomed and befriended him, treating him as one of their family.
In the weeks that followed Joe and Maura spent time together, always accompanied by Maura's 11 year old sister, at the house or walking along quiet lanes and through green rolling fields. Joe would often be found gazing at Maura and she was equally smitten by him but they never expressed their feelings verbally. They went to a dance in Campbell's Hall, at Moan's Cross, in May. When the military police searched the premises for soldiers who were out after curfew Maura and several others hid Joe under a bench.
They enjoyed their time together but it was short-lived. In late June Joe's unit was mobilised. Under orders, he could not tell her he was leaving but the last time he saw her, as he walked away, he turned and waved his handkerchief to her in farewell. When she found out that he had left she was heartbroken, crying and unable to eat for several days.
On June 21, 1944 Joe's unit landed in Normandy. He was badly wounded in battle on July 11 and developed amnesia as a result of a head wound. The next several months were spent in hospitals in England and France.
After Joe left, Maura and her family heard nothing of him until August. Then one of his comrades wrote telling them of Joe's wounds. When they did not hear from Joe himself during the next few months they thought he must have died.
Maura met a local man, John Graham, on August 20. Three weeks later he asked her to marry him. She refused to give him an answer immediately.
Struggling with the after effects of his head injury, Joe enlisted the help of a French nurse to write a Christmas card and post it to Maura and her family. He signed Faria in a shaky hand but was not able to write any message in it. By the time it arrived, since Maura thought Joe was dead, she had finally given John an answer to his proposal. On her birthday, in November 1944, she had agreed to marry him.
Joe recovered slowly and, when he was well enough, he wrote several letters to Maura. In a letter written in early May 1945 he asked her to marry him and return to the USA with him. She received Joe's letter on May 5, 1945 but she and John had already married in April.
Joe returned to the USA in September 1945. Back in Rhode Island he met Mary Francis and they married in May 1946.
Over the years the Farias and the Grahams, through cards and letters, kept in touch and exchanged news about the mundane and important events in their families' lives.
On December 11, 1987 Maura's husband, John, died due to a stroke. They had been married 42 years and had 10 children.
Joe's wife died suddenly, due to a heart attack, on February 26, 1991. They had been married 45 years and had 4 children. The next year was very difficult for him due to health problems and depression after his wife's death. His family were very concerned about him.
In February 1992, after not hearing from them at Christmas, Maura received a letter from Joe's daughter explaining what had happened. She invited Maura to visit them whenever she was in the USA visiting her son who lived in New York.
A little over a year later, on June 6, 1993 (the anniversary of the D-Day landing) Maura arrived at Rhode Island's T.F. Green Airport, with a friend, for their first meeting since Joe had left Northern Ireland nearly 50 years before. Standing in the airport, Joe said to his family, as he first saw Maura, "She hasn't changed a bit".
The visit was a resounding success and their friendship and love were easily rekindled. Many years had passed since Joe's first proposal to Maura. His second proposal had a happier ending. They were married on Maura's 70th birthday on November 14, 1993. They settled into a home in the seaside town, Bristol, in Rhode Island, where they spent several happy years until Joe's death on December 31, 1999.