RIP: ‘Devoted mother’: North Longford community mourns death of oldest person in parish

There was deep regret in the parish when news spread of the death of the late Kathleen Hand (née Briody), Culleenmore, who passed away peacefully on Monday night, November 10, at the home of her son Jimmy and daughter-in-law Geraldine where she had lived for the last few years. 

We believe that Kathleen was the oldest person in the parish at the time of her passing, being in her ninety-ninth year, and she had been in excellent health until only the last couple of weeks. 

She was the daughter of the late Michael and Bridget Briody of Moynagh in the parish of Ballymachugh and came to Mullinalaghta in the mid-1950s when she married Tim Hand of Culleenmore and made her home in the parish. There they raised their five children with Kathleen helping Tim with the farming as well as maintaining the household. 

However, Kathleen was to encounter sadness with the sudden loss of Tim in 1995, but with the great help of her steadfast family she was able to carry on and bear the loss. 

Kathleen had a great love of nature and a regard for both the farm animals and for her household pets, with there being a succession of dogs who were an integral part of the family as well as many cats who were all well taken care of. She maintained the house and garden in exquisite shape and had a particular pride in her flowers. 

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Kathleen was of a friendly and outgoing nature with a great sense of humour and was involved in many community activities down through the years and had a great sense of faith – with a particular devotion to St Anthony – which she passed on to her family, and she was a central part of many fundraising efforts for the parish. 

She was a devoted wife and mother to her family and took great delight in the progress and successes of her children and grandchildren, and with the advent of modern communications in the shape of the mobile phone she was able to keep in contact with them all on a daily basis, and they were able to reciprocate that love over the years with constant devotion. She was held in great affection in the parish and will be greatly missed by all her friends and neighbours. 

Kathleen was predeceased by Tim, by her parents, and by her brothers Paul, Bill, and Michael. She is survived by her son Jimmy, her daughters Shelagh, Breda, Maureen, and Lil, her daughter-in-law Geraldine, her sons-in-law Larry Brophy, Séamus Kavanagh, and Séam Holden, her grandchildren Clodagh, Aodhán, Dáire, Caoimhe, Gearóid, and Orlaith, her sister-in-law Kathleen Briody, Druminacrehir, her niece and nephews, her relatives, kind neighbours and friends to all of whom we offer our deepest condolences. 

The large attendance at her wake on Tuesday night and at her funeral in Mullinalaghta on Wednesday testified to the great respect and affection in which she and her family are held across the region. 

Her Funeral Mass took place in St Columba’s Church and was celebrated by Fr Michael Bannon P.P., assisted by her relation Fr Peter Beglan and her neighbour Fr Simon Cadam, with music provided by the Mulligan sisters, after which she was interred alongside Tim in the local cemetery. 

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam caoin agus uasal.

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