Irish American Information Service

Ireland's second-oldest person, 109-year-old Brigid Derrane, who was jailed after Dublin's 1916 Easter Rising against British rule, died in Galway on Dec. 31, 2003.

Derrane was born on the Aran Islands, off Co Galway, and six years ago became the oldest woman to receive a honorary degree from an Irish university. A friend of Irish independence struggle figures Patrick Pearse and Kevin Barry, Derrane emigrated to the United States after serving a three-month prison term.

Years later, she worked on President John F Kennedy's election campaign. Derrane returned to Ireland in the 1960s. At the age of 103, she was awarded an honorary arts degree by Galway University.

Derrane had been living for some years at a nursing home in Galway, where she died.