Nora "Noreen" (Lyons) Mackle

Nora “Noreen” Mackle (nee Lyons), 94, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at the Rose Garden Nursing Home in Toms River, NJ. She will be missed dearly by her family and friends. Noreen was a devoted and loving wife, mother, and “Granny”.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, she grew up in the village of Dunshaughlin, County Meath. Before coming to America, she was an assistant for the Irish Postal Service in Rathgar, County Dublin, Ireland. She emigrated to the United States in 1952 to work for the Bell Telephone Company in Englewood, NJ. She met her husband, Bernard Mackle of Cambridge, Massachusetts, while enjoying Irish music during a seaside holiday with friends in Beach Haven, NJ. The couple married in 1955, and moved to Ocean County, NJ. They raised their family in Toms River and Island Heights, NJ.  Noreen helped Bernard run Mackle Associates, a local Civil Engineering and Land Surveying firm, in Toms River, NJ, for many years.

She was a long-time parishioner of St. Joseph RC Church, Toms River, and Saint Maximilliam Kolbe Church in Holiday City, Toms River.

Noreen was a member of Caregiver Volunteers, Catholic Daughters of America, Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, and Women of Irish Heritage of the Jersey Shore. Soon after becoming a U.S. citizen, Noreen was elected to represent her voting district in Dover Township (now known as Toms River) as a Democratic Committee Woman.

Noreen enjoyed getting together with friends and family. She loved the outdoors: tennis, handball, camogie (female version of the Irish sport of hurling), golfing, going to the beach, visiting the boardwalk, and sitting around an ocean-side campfire with her entire family at Island Beach State Park. She often spoke of the fun she had each summer with her brothers and sisters, playing on the beach and splashing in the waters of beautiful Blacksod Bay, down the hill from her grandmother’s home in the seaside village of Shraigh, Co. Mayo, Ireland. She also never declined an opportunity to travel, and visited many places all over the United States and Europe, as well as Hong Kong, China, Canada, and Mexico.

Noreen was predeceased by her husband, Bernard Mackle, in 1988. She is predeceased by her parents, Martin and Sarah Lyons, and her siblings, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law; Mary Byford (spouse Harry), Edmond Lyons (Esther), Sally Nolan (Eddie), Paddy Lyons, Gabriel Guthrie (Tommy), Breege Hobbs (Jerry), Martin Lyons and Bernard’s sister Mary Noonan (Richard).

She is survived by her five children and their spouses; Breege Kohl (Schyler) of Island Heights, Bernard Mackle (Elizabeth) of Toms River, Mary Mackle (Noureddine) of Toms River, John Mackle (Jeannie) of Whiting, NJ, and Pearse Mackle (Amy) of Toms River. Nora has seven grandchildren; Noreen Kohl (Omar), Caitie Kohl, Shauna Mackle, Nora Mackle, Colin Mackle, Liam Mackle, and Ryan Mackle. She has two great-grandchildren, Pearl and Huey Kohl-Bird of Honolulu, Hawaii. Noreen is also survived by her sister-in-law Linda Northrup of Quebec, Canada, sister-in-law Joan Lyons of Co. Cork, Ireland and many nieces and nephews in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine, Canada, England, and Ireland.

For the past two years Nora lived at Rose Garden Nursing Home in Toms River. Her family would like to thank and will always remember the wonderful kindness and friendship extended by the entire Rose Garden community, staff, and residents, to their mother. Thanks to them, Noreen continued enjoying all the group activities with her fellow residents, and kept her happy outlook on life, to her final day.

The family will receive relatives and friends on Thursday, June 6, 2024 between 3 pm and 7 pm. at the Timothy E. Ryan Home for Funerals, 145 St. Catherine Blvd., Toms River.   A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered on Friday, June 7, 2024 at 10 am at St. Joseph RC Church, Toms River.  Burial to follow at St. Joseph Cemetery, Toms River.

Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.ryanfuneralhome.com.

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