THE FUNERAL has taken place of Brigid Kelly (née McDaid), 1 Beechwood Avenue, Letterkenny.
A much loved and popular member of the community, Brigid’s passing has been met with deep sadness among her family, neighbours and many friends.
Her Requiem Mass was celebrated on Sunday in St Eunan’s Cathedral by Monsignor Kevin Gillespie who spoke of how Brigid had been in good health up until her passing, telling mourners how “the very night she was called home to God she was out dancing in Bonagee.”
He said Brigid always went straight to the heart of the matter, but carried the joy of a Christian heart with her.
He said she belonged to a generation that looked back with great affection on their childhood on Lower Main Street, aware that a whole world there had since passed away.
Brigid was born to John ‘the Tailor’ McDaid, of Lower Main Street, Letterkenny, and Cassie Doherty, a native of Derrora, Churchill. She boarded at Loreto Convent, Letterkenny, where she was remembered as a bright girl with a knowhow in Irish she remained proud of throughout her life.
She later worked in the tax office, and also as an election officer at the polling booth in Trinity Hall. She also volunteered at the Credit Union every Saturday when it operated out of the Literary Insitute many years ago.
Mgr Gillespie recalled how Fr Andy Carrabin celebrated the marriage ceremony of Brigid to Hugh Kelly in St Eunan’s Cathedral on September 14, 1968, and the couple settled in Beechwood. Brigid chose to stay rooted in the town rather than build on land Hugh owned in Glenswilly.
She gave up her career on marriage to raise her family, going on to become proud mother of six children, grandmother to 15 grandchildren and great-grandmother to four.
Mgr Gillespie spoke of her gift for minding children, saying Brigid had cared for so many over the years.
The Kelly home at Beechwood had an open door, he said, except on Wednesday nights, kept free for Bonagee, and during Letterkenny Reunion week, when relatives and friends returned from far and wide.
He said that whilst shopping in the Old Dunnes, Brigid used to sit on a chair by the door of the shop and have her chats with passers-by. He referred to a recent photo of Brigid on that chair which depicted a woman with a look of contentment, curiosity and a willingness to talk.
Brigid is pre-deceased by her loving husband, Hugh.
She will be sadly missed by her family, Patrick (Lorraine), Mary Casey (Ciaran), Brian (Helena) Michael (Cliffy) (Bernie), Cathy (Bríd), Kieran (Olivia), grandchildren, great-grandchildren, brother, Barney McDaid and family in Letterkenny, Anna Shiels and family in Clydebank, extended family, neighbours and friends.