RIP: 'Great shock' in Longford following death of lady who had a great love of culture

The community of Mullinalaghta suffered another in a series of recent blows on Monday, March 23 with word of the death of Sheila Keogh, Leitrim, who passed away peacefully in Tullamore Hospital in the presence of her family. 

Sheila had been bravely battling illness in recent years but appeared to have overcome the challenges and staged a full recovery, and was once again active in the community in good form and participating in social events until she suffered an unexpected setback only a couple of weeks ago and her passing after a short period of illness came as a great shock to the people of the parish and wider area. 

Sheila was a native of Lissaquill just outside Tang on the Westmeath border with Longford and was one of nine children of the late William and Annie Ganly. 

After her education in Tang National School and Ballymahon Convent, she began working in the Civil Service in Dublin before relocating back to Westmeath and working for what was then the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. 

It was while working in the P&T in Mullingar that she met Pat Keogh from Leitrim at a dance in the Town Hall in Mullingar and the romance that was kindled there led to their wedding and Sheila’s move from the plains of Westmeath to the hills of Corbawn and Mullinalaghta. 

Pat and Sheila celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary last year and it was in Leitrim that they brought up their family of four while running their farm. 

Also read: RIP: Death of ‘fiercely loyal and obliging’ Seamus Collumb leaves ‘immense void’ in Mullinalaghta

Sheila became a greatly valued member of the community in Mullinalaghta and had a great interest in the land as well as in gardening, while also maintaining a great affection and strong links with her native parish of Tang. 

She was noted for her great friendliness and quiet hospitality towards any visitors, including the occasional accidental pilgrim taking a wrong turn on their trips to St Patrick’s Well behind the Keogh household. 

Sheila had a deep faith and was a faithful attender at Mass in Mullinalaghta, and that faith gave her great comfort during her illness. She kept up to date with technologies and was able to use WhatsApp to stay current with all the local developments and news even during the time when her illness meant that she had to maintain physical isolation from others. 

Above all, she had a great devotion to her family, both to her children and to her grandchildren and maintained a great interest in their progress and successes, and she manifested what was referred to at her funeral as a wonderful randomness in terms of kindnesses both towards her family and towards others. 

PICTURES | Enjoyable food, music and chat at north Longford Easter party in Abbeylara

She had a great love of culture, being a great reader and a member of the book club in Granard, as well as having a great interest in Irish music and song and in the language, and passed these interests down to the next generations, with both her daughter Eilish and her grandchildren achieving success in traditional song and music, and her grandchildren provided the wonderful traditional music which was played at her funeral Mass. 

The great affection in which Sheila was held in the community and the tremendous respect for her family was manifested in the large crowds who attended her removal on Tuesday evening, March 24 and her funeral on Wednesday, and which were the largest seen in the parish for many years. 

Sheila was predeceased by her parents, her brothers Liam, Tommy, Joe, and Paddy and her sisters Nuala Newman and Betty Igoe. She is survived by her loving husband Pat, her daughters Rose Fitzsimons, Eilish Comerford, and Caroline McHale, her son Liam, her sons-in-law John, Paul, and Albert, her grandchildren Darragh, Sinéad, Méabh, Aoife, Mel, Ciarán, Maria, Lucy, and Anna, her sister Maureen Dillon, her brother Bernard, her brothers and sisters-in-law, her nieces and nephews, her relatives, and a large circle of friends and neighbours to whom we extend our deepest sympathies. 

Also read: RIP: 'Highly thought of' Fr Oliver O'Reilly proudly spread the hurling gospel in Cavan

Her Requiem Mass on Wednesday morning was celebrated by Fr. Michael Bannon P.P., assisted by Fr. Peter Beglan and Fr. Paddy Conlon, a native of Tang, after which her interment took place in Mullinalaghta graveyard. Sheila will be greatly missed not only in the parish but in the wider region where her gentle presence and quiet kindness and friendship has been a constant factor over the last five decades. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis agus caoin.