One of Mayo’s most senior citizens laid to rest

One of Mayo’s most senior citizens laid to rest in Irishtown


Michael Commins

ONE of Mayo’s most senior citizens Brigid Kirrane from Kilvine, Irishtown, died in recent days. She was in her 103rd year and was born on February 14, 1906. She had resided in the Meadowlands Nursing Home in Cloonfad for the three and a half years.
Brigid McWalter was born beside the old school in Kilvine and was one of a family of seven, four girls and three boys. Her parents were John McWalter from Cloonfad and Brigid Hosty from Kilvine. Her mother was a fluent Irish speaker. The native language lived on this this corner of Mayo long after it had receded in most of the surrounding areas.
She married her neighbour Thomas Kirrane on June 9, 1937. Their daughter Mary married John Feerick and their family reside in Kilvine.
Brigid and Thomas, who died in 1989, loved music and dancing and were regulars at the socials and dances in their local lounge, Bourke’s of Irishtown, for many years. Brigid lived with her daughter Mary and husband John and family for a good many years before moving to Meadowlands in Cloonfad where she also received the finest of care and attention.
One special story she related to family and friends on many occasions was in relation to the time she and her friend Nancy Kirrane cycled from Kilvine to Murrisk in 1948 for the annual Reek Climb. After completing the climb, they got on their bikes and pedalled it all the way back to Kilvine the next day.
A woman of a deeply religious nature, she had a great devotion to Our Lady of Knock and often waked there via Brickens and Bekan in days of yore.
Brigid was a tremendous source of information on local history and folklore. Gabriel Prendergast from the local Irishtown Heritage Society, in a tribute to her, said she was had a brilliant recall of events. “Brigid had a wealth of knowledge about the Kilvine and Irishtown areas. We managed to get a lot of material that would otherwise be lost forever. She loved to chat and reminisce and she had a great fondness for the old ways and traditions. Billy Freeley and myself recorded a lot of lovely material with her some years ago.”
Last February 12 months, on the occasion of her 101st birthday, she was presented with a commemorative medal which was forwarded to her from the President, Mary McAleese.
A non-smoker, Brigid admitted last year on the occasion of her centenary to being a little partial to a drop of brandy now and again. It certainly never did her any harm!
Removal took place from Keane’s Funeral Home in Cloonfad to Irishtown Church, passing by the family home in Kilvine on the way. Interment was in the local cemetery following Requiem Mass celebrated by Fr Martin O’Connor, PP.
She is survived by her daughter Mary, son-in-law John, grandchildren Thomas, Kathleen, Sean and Maria, great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, relatives neighbours and friends.