Published: Wednesday, 28th July, 2010 4:54pm

Remarkable lady

Betty Geraghty with her son Peter before she took to the skies.

Born in England, raised in Peru, married in Burma and birth to her first child in India - Betty Geraghty has led nothing if not a very interesting life.

Although she is now aged 90, Betty's sense of adventure has never waned, and so, on Friday of last week, she fulfilled a personal dream to travel in a hot air balloon.

Betty, who lives at The Meadows, Dunshaughlin, was accompanied by her son, Peter, as she took to the skies above the Porchfields in Trim for the latest adventure in her remarkable life.

Born in England in 1919, as a very young child, Betty Barnett moved to Peru with her family where her father, Dr Burgess Barnett, ran a zoo.

In her teens, she returned to England for a short time to finish her education and, in 1938, she moved with her family to Rangoon, Burma, where her father ran another zoo.

The Second World War broke out while they were in Burma and Betty joined the Royal Air Force where she met her husband, Michael Geraghty from Merrywell, Drumree. Michael was a consulting engineer and travelled to Burma to work as an engineer. When the war broke out, he enlisted and went on to become Lieutenant-General of the Royal Engineers.

The couple married in 1942, just four weeks after meeting. They left Burma to make their way home via India, and it was in Darjeeling that their first daughter, Patricia, was born in 1943. In 1945, their second daughter, Judy, was born in Shilong, India, and the family travelled by ship back to England.

Betty's father stayed on in Burma and was awarded an MBE after he led a group through the jungle out of Burma during the war. A well-known zoologist, Dr Barnett discovered an early cure for haemophilia using snake venom.

In 1946, the Geraghtys arrived in Ireland and settled in Dublin, raising their five daughters and one son. When she returned home, Betty joined the Burma Star Association and was secretary of the organistion for 35 years. She received an MBE for her work with the association in 1998.

Betty and Michael moved to Dunshaughlin in 2002 and celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary in 2005, the same year that Michael sadly passed away, aged 98.

Betty's son, Peter, and daughter, Patricia, live nearby in Ratoath, and the family has many Geraghty relations in the Drumree area.

Some time ago, Betty mentioned that she would like to go in a hot air balloon sometime and her son booked the trip three years ago but, because of weather, they only got around to actually doing the balloon flight last week.

Betty was delighted to fulfill her dream and enjoyed a glass of champagne afterwards to celebrate.

Just recently, Betty was giving blood and the nurse asked about a scar on her arm. The nurse probably found it hard to believe 90-year-old Betty as she explained that a lion had bitten her when she was a child after she petted it - even though she had been warned not to go near the lions before they had their breakfast!