Margaret Elizabeth Shaw Coates

When her son John Henry McDermott was indicating interest in Agnes Anderson, enquiries were made as to the suitability of the family. In a business near to her home the person seeking information was told that if ever an angel wore shoe leather it was Maggie McDermott. She was a godly woman, involved as a young woman in the YWCA, and known to speak at their Dublin Conferences. When living at Creevy, Saintfield she would often speak at Tonaghmore Mission Hall when the appointed speaker failed to appear.

She was known to take in to her home little orphans, found cold and hungry in the street,these children from the nearby Nazareth Lodge she would then feed, allow them to warm themselves, and then take them back. She would regularly call at Nazareth Lodge with gifts to help provide care for the children. (Even thought they were of the Roman Catholic faith and she a strict Presbyterian.) It was this especially that impressed neighbours.