Kilmovee centenarians celebrate birthdays
TWO women from the same east Mayo parish have celebrated their 100th birthdays within days of one another, writes James Hunt.
The champagne corks were popping in the village of Kilmovee as Bridget Frain, Rathnagussane, and Kathleen Shiel, Clooniron, marked their status as centenarians and were presented with their cheques for €1,500 from President Michael D. Higgins.
The hale and hearty ladies had separate family celebrations which attracted large attendances.
Bridget Frain (nee O’Gara) was born on November 14, 1914, a member of a family of six daughters born to Patrick and Ellen O’Gara. Bridget attended Kilmovee National School and, on completion of her education, she was employed in Elphin with Roscommon County Council prior to emigrating to England before returning some years later to care for her aging father.
She married Martin Frain, a native of Ishlawn, Ballaghaderreen, in 1960 and set up home in Ballinvoher, Kilmovee. Her hobbies included knitting, sewing, gardening, card playing, TV, current affairs, reading newspapers and local history.
Her husband Martin died in 1979 and they were not blessed with a family, apart from her nephews Johnny and Aiden Harte and nieces Mary Boyland (nee Harte) and Kathleen Bourke (nee Harte), Kilmovee and Milebush, Castlebar. She now resides with her niece Kathleen Bourke in Milebush where friends, neighbours and relatives came to celebrate Mass on the occasion prior to a celebration later in the Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar.
She attributes her long life to hard work, plain food, not worrying too much and practicing her religion, which is very much to the fore in her life.
Kathleen Shiel was born Kathleen Cunniffe on November 18, 1914. She was the eldest of a family of 12 children born to Joseph and Celia Cunniffe, near Kilrickle, Loughrea. She attended the local national school where she received her formal education, after which she worked in Loughrea until she was 18 and then emigrated to Manchester. It was while in Manchester she met her future husband, Michael Shiel, a native of Clooniron, Kilmovee, and they were united in marriage in April 1938.
Kathleen has experienced many sweeping changes in her lifetime, having witnessed World War One, albeit having little or no recollection of it, World War Two, the blizzard of 1947, the coming on stream of bicycles, radios, the electric light, running water, TV and the first man on the moon, to mention but a few.
Kathleen recalled the ration books and commented that there is no recession today.
Having returned to Ireland with her husband, they set up home in Clooniron, Kilmovee, in 1940. Together they raised a family of three daughters - Patricia (Scully), Margaret (Bell) and Ita (Cullen).