Mayo-born bishop dies in Australia

GOLDEN JUBILEE The late Bishop Myles McKeon is pictured with colleagues on the occasion of  his 50th Anniversary as a Bishop.

The death has occurred in Western Australia of Mayo native Bishop Myles McKeon. The last surviving Irishman to have attended Vatican Council II, he died on May 2, 2016, at the age of 97.
Bishop McKeon – known as Bishop Myles to his family, friends and colleagues – was born on April 3, 1919, in Drummin, near Westport to Bridget Toole and retired RIC Sgt John McKeon.
After completing his secondary education in St Jarlath’s College in Tuam and studying at UCD and All Hallows Seminary in Dublin, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Perth in Western Australia in 1947 before undertaking the arduous journey by sea to the far-away continent.
In May 1962, at the age of 43, he was appointed the youngest Auxiliary Bishop of Perth, Western Australia, and Titular Bishop of Antipygros. In 1969, he was appointed Bishop of Bunbury, Western Australia – a diocese south of Perth, a position that he held until 1982, when he retired at 62 due to ill health.
Bishop McKeon saw out his retirement in Subiaco, Western Australia, and while he had not visited Ireland since 1995, he kept in regular contact with friends and family. His only surviving sibling, Mrs Sheila Conway, and her family still live in Westport, but his nieces and nephews, the McKeons, Sheerins, Reidys and Tallons, can be found all over the world.