Because she took a good run at going, many people were asking for my mother, Kathleen Reidy over the past few weeks.
She passed away early this morning at 88 years of age and I’m fulfilling a promise to those who asked me to let them know when she passed on.
My earliest memories of seeing her are when herself and my father returned from England with my new baby sister, Ellen.
They had been in England for a couple of years due to the economic hardship of the early 1950s Ireland while I’d remained at home with my grand-parents.
I remember sitting on the floor in the house in Knocknagore and looking up and seeing these strangers with long coats and suitcases.
My mother dropped a suitcase from each hand and outstretched her arms for me and I ran to my grandfather.
I often thought of that and the consequences which forced emigration had on families then and still.
She suffered an adult lifetime of pain from an improperly set hip injury in her youth and never a complaint. It wasn’t in her nature to complain.
My sisters, Ellen and Kath looked after her and my father on a constant basis and with care and dedication over the past ten years.
As this is All-Ireland Football Final weekend, one of my memories of her is of sitting down to watch a final years ago and a huge rosary bead speeding through her busy fingers. May God be good to her.
Kathleen (Kathy) R.I.P., beloved wife of the late Michael. Sadly missed by her loving family: John, Ellen, Martin and Kath, sons-in-law John and Dan, daughters-in-law Sarah and Cathleen, 10 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren, sister Bridie, brothers Willie and John, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and many friends.
Rest in Peace
Rosary this Friday evening at 8pm in Tangney’s Funeral Home. Reposing at Tangney’s Funeral Home on Saturday evening from 5pm to 7pm followed by removal to Castleisland Parish Church. Requiem Mass on Sunday at 11.30am. Burial afterwards in Kilbanivane Cemetery, Castleisland.
