The death has occurred of Mary O’Connor-Reidy, 51 St. Stephen’s Park, Castleisland, Co. Kerry and formerly of 157 Upper Main Street, Castleisland.
Peacefully, after a short illness on August 15th 2024 at University Hospital Kerry with her family by her side.
Predeceased by her parents Paddy and Maureen, her son Paddy and her sisters Carol and Anne. Sadly missed by her loving son Thomas, daughter Jacqueline, her adored grandson Ethan, brother Eamonn. Aunt Mary Martin, Tralee, her brother-in-law Declan, nieces, relatives, neighbours and many friends especially Dermot. May Her Gentle Soul Rest In Peace.
An Air of Difference, Sadness and Shock
There was an air of difference, sadness and shock as the news of Mary’s death filtered through the area on Friday morning and throughout the weekend. Thought Friday was a fine and very bright day there was a pall shadowing it – and a feeling that’s hard to articulate.
Maybe it’s because of Mary’s sudden absence from her area of the town she loved so well. The door of her house was nearly always open and she was in and out in a way that you’d rarely miss meeting her on your route to the town’s Main Street.
A Beacon of Light, Love and Positivity
But, most of all it’s probably because Mary was a beacon of happiness, light, love and the kind of pure positivity that was infectious in spite of all that befell her in the course of this year alone.
Often, when we’d meet she would tell, with the same excitement she must have felt on the day that her mother and herself met my mother on a bus to Tralee.
Her eyes would light up even more when she came to the punchline of the story: “And your mother gave me a bar of chocolate that day and I’ll never forget it as long as I live,” she’d say gripping my arm.
May God be Good to you Mary and He will as He’d struggle to have anything down against you.
Mary’s Funeral Arrangements
Reposing at Tangney’s Funeral Home, Church Street, Castleisland on Wednesday evening from 5pm to 7pm.
Funeral arriving to Castleisland Parish Church on Thursday morning for Requiem Mass at 11am. Burial afterwards in Kilbanivane Cemetery, Castleisland. The Mass will be livestreamed on www.churchservices.tv/castleisland
Date Published: Tuesday, August 20th 2024. Date of Death: Thursday, August 15th 2024
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