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When Ethna Dorman placed the mandatory red stain, indicating her special place, on a beautifully carved desk in her restored garage in the fifth episode of the House of the Year and stated, “When we were courting, my husband William pointed to this desk and said that he he did, so I decided to marry him on the spot, “we were intrigued, but we were left hanging: the house, not the history of Ethna’s life, was the theme of the program.
It is also a beautiful house; not only a wonderful restoration job but a home full of character, personality and memories; a worthy winner of the overall House title of the year 2020.
Judge Hugh Wallace was excited, not only by the way the original stable features of this beautiful house in West Dublin were preserved, but also by the furnishings, and transpires that Ethna’s late husband, William, did pretty much everything .
Hugh especially commented on the desk and assumed that the owner obviously appreciates him because she is a letter writer. And he wasn’t too wrong there: Ethna has many contacts abroad, having lived in London, New York and Princeton, before finally returning to Ireland.
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On the ground floor of the garage there was space for two carriages and two horses. This area was converted into a living room, dining room and kitchen. The architect placed windows where the doors of the car used to be, so it is full of light. William, Ethna’s late husband, made the table, while the chairs were from his family’s Princeton home. William also made the dresser as a wedding anniversary gift for Ethna. The silhouettes on the sofa are two of the five silhouettes of your children in the room. “So they will always be with me,” says Ethna. There are also portraits of three of Ethna’s sons by artist John Dinan.
Ethna now enjoys a full but peaceful life, keeping in touch with her five children, four of whom live in the United States; devouring online lectures on Plato and the other great philosophers, in addition to being a member of the local church council. But his life abroad was exciting. The story of her and William’s romance is an extraordinary story, and she had many professional achievements, including a top position in the world of international finance, becoming the first female trader at the London Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange, and awards for being at the Century Club. “That meant that when I worked in New York in the late 1970s, I made more than $ 100,000 a year,” Ethna explains in a disposable comment.
Originally from a farm in Roscommon, Ethna moved with her family to Dublin when she was still very young, and after finishing school, she took a secretarial course: shorthand, typing and accounting, and got a job at local companies. So far so average.
However, in the mid-1970s, Ethna moved to London, and then her talent began to be recognized. She worked for a top-tier company where she was treated as a full-time accountant, although she had never taken an accounting exam before. Then he moved to the side and started to board. “I started buying products in bulk for a trading company: sugar, rubber, cocoa, coffee. Then I discovered the futures markets and decided that this was where I wanted to be,” he says, without question. “I went to France to do a course in the futures market. I was the only woman who did the course and the exams,” says the glamorous 60-year-old woman with silver hair.
Soon after, Ethna, who was still only 20 years old, was chased by a large American trading company, EF Hutton, who appointed her as her London merchant. “I was the largest merchant in London at the time,” he explains, but he loves the notion that these are extraordinary achievements. “It was a challenge, but nothing compared to raising five children,” he insists.
Soon, the Ethna bosses at EF Hutton presented him with another challenge: moving to the United States.
“There was a turnaround in the silver market and, as a consequence, all metals rose sharply. For example, gold rose from $ 350 to $ 850 an ounce. It created an international monetary problem and interest rates rose by 3%. at 22%, “he explains. He added: “He had experience with coins that were needed in New York.”
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Ethna’s beloved desk, which convinced her that she should marry William. “It was a serious situation, a widower with three little girls. I thought if he could do that [the desk]he could always make a living, “she says
As it happened, Ethna’s sister Olivia lived in Princeton, New Jersey, and Ethna visited Olivia as often as possible. During that time, she became friends with Olivia’s neighbor, Joanna, who had three girls. “They used to call me Aunt Matches because it allowed them to put out the match when I was lighting my cigarette,” Ethna says with a laugh.
Sadly, Joanna became very ill, and what Ethna did next was unexpected. “I went to see her in the hospital before she died. She was standing at the end of the bed and these words came out of my mouth: ‘I promise to take care of your children’. Then I thought: ‘How the hell what happened?
When Joanna died soon after, Ethna called to see the family to sympathize. “All the girls got on my lap and cried. They had to cry, and I allowed and supported them. And then they put me to bed with their father,” she explains.
Eight months later, the girls, Kim, Tia and Dominique, put their plan into practice. “I got a phone call from Kim, who was 11 years old,” recalls Ethna. “She said, ‘I would like to invite Aunt Matches to dinner and also my dad and my two sisters.’ I went and it was like the Von Trapp family. At nine o’clock, the girls got up, excused themselves and went to the bed, leaving me alone with his father. In six weeks, I got married. “
William, or to give him his full name, William Rawlins Livingston Dorman, for whom carpentry was a hobby, like horses, held a high-powered position in the financial world; he was the chief compliance officer for Merrill Lynch.
When they married, Ethna quit her job and took a new position at a commercial bank near her home. She was enjoying her new life as the mother of three girls: “I love them and they love me,” she says. Soon, two more children joined them, Liam and then Lydia.
Sadly, just before Lydia’s birth, William lost his job in the 1989 accident, and the always resourceful Ethna decided to study to be a real estate agent, and had another successful career buying and selling houses in New York and New Jersey.
However, it was not easy to support five children in the United States and the couple stretched to the limit. Then something happened that focused Ethna’s mind. “It was a big snowstorm in 1993, and William fell and broke his clavicle. Then one day, after shopping, I went home, went up the driveway, and turned the bend toward the house, when Liam came running towards me at 80 kilometers per hour on a slide. I was very lucky, I was able to stop the car; the license plate number got stuck in his collar, preventing him from getting under the car. I picked him up; he was moaning, ‘Mommy, Mommy, my back. ” He was saying over and over, “You are alive, you are alive.” I will never forget the sound of snow under my shoes as I carried it home, “says Ethna.
Fortunately, he was fine, but that decided Ethna: she spiked her heels and insisted that they move to Ireland. Kim, the eldest, was already in college at St Andrews in Scotland, and William and Ethna and the other four returned, initially to Tipperary.
“To get William out of his beautiful family home in Princeton, I had to find a lovely home,” says Ethna. “Friends helped us and we found a beautiful old house in Tipperary to rent, but it was cold.” Ethna also felt that it would be better for the children to go to school in Dublin.
The house in Tipperary had a patio, which William loved, and he agreed to move to Dublin if Ethna found a house with a patio. After much searching, he found the perfect place next to Luttrellstown and its magnificent gardens in west Dublin. The property consisted not only of a courtyard, but also of five buildings, one of which was a long cabin dating back to the 19th century, originally the home of the Luttrellstown manager, which they built, “squashed” and established.
Kim, Tia, Liam, and Lydia now live in North America, while Sheridans event manager and cheesemaker Dominique lives in Kildare. Fortunately, Ethna saw them all just before closing, when, to Lydia’s surprise, they all flew to New York to celebrate her 30th birthday. Today, he keeps in touch daily through WhatsApp with the five and their nine grandchildren. (In normal times, Ethna goes to see the family in the United States regularly and rents the house out through Phil Brennan through Unique Irish Homes and Home Away.)
Sadly, William died 10 years ago, and five years ago, Ethna, who never sat down to be depressed, applied for planning permission to restore the garage, giving herself a smaller, more manageable home, aided by her sister Olivia, who lent her the money.
Ethna recently applied for planning permission for a cafe, which she hopes to open along with Dominique, when nearby Shackleton Gardens being restored by the Fingal County Council are open to the public.
Their home is delightful, and Ethna’s only sadness is that William never saw what he did with the garage. But she has the joy of many happy memories with him. “I can’t say it was always easy. I trusted him a lot for his wisdom, then I realized he had a little bit of wisdom of his own. And he trusted me enough to cross the Atlantic with me,” she says. .
And to his great joy, he is there in spirit through his charming furnishings.
All episodes of the sixth season of ‘Home of the Year’ are available on RTE Player until mid-May
Edited by Mary O’Sullivan
Photograph of Joe McCallion
Sunday Indo Life Magazine
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