Geraldine Creaner

Geraldine Creaner (nee Griffin) passed away peacefully yesterday, 19th August 2026, and we were lucky enough to be there to hold her hand as it happened. She knew she was safe and that she was loved and that is all any of us can ask for.

As most people know, GetReskilled is a family business, and Geraldine was at the heart of this. She prided herself on knowing every student’s name and was simultaneously cheerleader and mentor (sometimes torMENTOR when the case needed it!) for nearly 2,000 students over the past 12 years. She changed so many lives for the better and her legacy lives on in not just her family but also in the people who she helped transition and upskill into the pharmaceutical and medical device industry.

Our Geraldine was a Clare woman at heart, having been born in Ennis, and was keen to remind her friends and neighbours in Cork of this by flying the Clare flag at every hurling match (yes – especially the ones where they were playing Cork!). She spent the last 40 years travelling the world, and will be returning home to Ennis as her final resting place next week.

Photo By: Sinead Creaner of Geraldine in her Clare Jersey

Geraldine qualified as a laboratory technician at Carlow Regional Technical College (now South East Technological University) in 1978. She was the first person in her family to obtain a third-level qualification, and she funded her own studies by working as a waitress every summer and borrowing from the Credit Union.

Upon graduation, she secured a Laboratory Technician role with Antigen in Roscrea. She subsequently moved back closer to home to Syntex Pharmaceuticals (later Roche) in Clarecastle – where she met and married Gerry Creaner, a chemical engineer from Dublin who had gotten his first job on the Clarecastle site.

In 1986, she took a career break to raise her children (Niamh, Sinead and Colm). During this time, she and the family moved around Ireland and the rest of the world living in Grand Bahama, Cork, Singapore, Boston and London.

In 2012, Geraldine came back to work for GetReskilled, becoming Programme Director – thus beginning the “family” part of this family company as Niamh, Sinead and Colm have all subsequently joined GetReskilled over the years. She always joked that when Gerry had asked her to come work with him, he said it was only for a few months and that it later turned out she was too good to replace. She was absolutely right.

The pastoral care GetReskilled students receive is all down to the systems Geraldine put together. We all know that the hardest part of returning to education is trying to have the support network in place to make it possible – because there is always going to be a day when quitting seems easier than continuing. Geraldine seemed to be able to instinctively know how to balance the Mentor, TorMENTOR and Cheerleader role. She knew when someone just needed a break to catch their breath, and when someone needed a push because they were so close to the finish line, it was in sight even if they couldn’t see it yet.

Geraldine did not discover a molecule or commission a facility. She did something this industry needs just as badly and finds far harder. She helped 2,000 people make the career change into an industry that needs them.

Photo By: Sinead Creaner of Geraldine and Gerry on their 41st Wedding Anniversary

The good, kind and supportive acts we put out into the world always come back to us in unexpected ways. Geraldine had been diagnosed with a Stage 4 Glioblastoma, and so the medicines and medical devices that were keeping her alive and comfortable were manufactured, validated and released on regulated sites by the operators, technicians, quality specialists and validation engineers she trained.

She helped build the workforce that was caring for her. We can think of no clearer measure of what one person’s work in this industry can amount to.

Geraldine was loved by so many including her husband Gerry, her daughters Niamh and Sinead, and her son Colm. Beloved by her sisters Mary Chawke, Frances O’Donoghue and Tina McGann; and her brothers-in-law Gerry McGann and Ray O’Donoghue. Predeceased by her sister Ann Slattery. Her nieces and nephews (all of whom loved their Auntie Geraldine), and her grand-nieces and nephews (who all fondly remember their Granty-Geraldine), her friends, neighbours and thousands of students who she was always there for.

Photo By: Sinead Creaner of the Creaner Family

RIP.ie Death Notice – TBC
Reposing – Joseph Daly & Sons, Francis Street, Ennis, Co. Clare – Date and Time TBC
Funeral – Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Ennis, Co. Clare – Date and Time TBC

Funeral Directors – Joseph Daly & Sons Funeral Directors

Photo By: Sinead Creaner of Geraldine and Colm Creaner walking the beach