Shock and sadness in Longford at sudden death of Kate Feeney

Condolences have been extended to the family of a popular member of the Longford community after her sudden death. 

There was considerable shock and sadness in the area last Sunday when word spread of the sudden death of Kate Feeney, Clonee, Co Meath and formerly of Aughanoran, which took place at James Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown. 

Kate was one of eight children of the late Thomas and Annie McCabe. She met and married Gerard 'Ollie' Feeney, a native of County Mayo, who was a member of the Mullinalaghta Junior Championship winning team of 1977. 

Kate was bereaved at an early age when Ollie died suddenly at the tragically young age of 48, with his twenty-fifth anniversary coinciding almost to the day with the date of Kate’s funeral.

She had lived in Dublin and then in Clonee for many years but maintained a holiday home on the lakeshore just outside Gowna village and she was a frequent visitor to the area and was present at all major occasions in the locality, being a popular and well-respected member of the community. 

She had a great love of social dancing and was a regular attendee of dancing events both locally and across the country, frequently featuring in the audience of the television show Glór Tíre, and her passing was marked by many tributes on social media from other regular attendees at these events. 

Kate was predeceased by her parents, her husband Ollie, and her sisters Josie and Annamaye. 

She is survived by her partner Bill Finnerty, her sisters Margaret Hand (Aughanoran), Sadie Brennan (Mullahoran), Mary Hall (Colmcille), and Bernie Kearney (Granard), her brother Jim McCabe (Aughanoran), her nieces and nephews, brothers-in-law Tom, Joe and Michael and their families, and all of her dancing friends to whom we offer our deepest sympathies. 

The high regard in which Kate and the extended McCabe family are held was manifest in the large crowds from the area who were present at her wake and removal in Dunboyne on Wednesday evening and her funeral on Thursday morning, and the McCabe family would like to express their appreciation to all those who travelled to sympathise with them in their loss. 

Kate’s funeral mass took place on Thursday morning in St. Peter and Paul’s Church, Dunboyne, with interment afterwards in Rooske Cemetery.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam.