IT MAY have been a celebration of her 100th birthday, but when the guest of honour sang a verse of Danny Boy along with the Celtic Tenors, it showed that Brannockstown woman Norah Breslin was very much on top form. <\/p>\n
The event in the Killashee Hotel was also an outpouring of appreciation and love for someone who, through her long life, has made an impact on everyone that she met. Family, friends and members of the local community recounted Norah\u2019s fierce love for her family, her service in faith to the community, and her many practical initiatives to help others through life.<\/p>\n
Norah\u2019s seventh son, Martin, opened the tributes, providing first a short r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of her childhood in an English coal-mining town, where her hard work, diligence and intelligence earned her a scholarship to graduate school. Norah married Irishman Dan Breslin a month before her 25th birthday.<\/p>\n
Noting that reaching the age of 100 is \u201can incredible longevity milestone that commands respect\u201d, Martin said that longevity alone is not something that inspires, but how somebody lives can do so. \u201cShe raised 11 children. She supported my father\u2019s business. She carried responsibility wherever it needed to be carried and she did so consistently, quietly and without complaint.\u201d <\/p>\n
Speaking of her faith, he said it was expressed in commitment and service to others. \u201cDecade after decade, she was church organist, director of the choir, giving her time, talent and energy to parish life. We are celebrating the character of the lady, how she lived the principles and the values that she chose to make her own \u2013 which, we might note, are the same values and principles that anyone can make their own.\u201d <\/p>\n
A busy mix of great love, hard work and constant care was how Norah\u2019s daughter Cathy described her mother\u2019s life, each day beginning with a cup of tea and after that planning around the schedule of the family. \u201cYou were in a busy household, and always put our needs first, before your own. I remember you often staying up late at night to sew, iron clothes, sometimes hanging curtains, and making preparations for the next day.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cathy described a mother\u2019s love as \u201can unyielding force\u201d, combining sacrifice, protection and patience, that puts a child\u2019s safety, happiness, and well-being above all else. \u201cYou taught us music and storytelling, and I have vivid memories of you teaching us how to preserve and store apples, making jams, and making our clothes.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cathy also recalled her mother\u2019s fortitude as her children emigrated to find work in the UK, Germany and the United States. \u201cYou always encouraged our independence, and you bravely waved goodbye. You taught us resilience and how to keep going forward, even when life disappoints and changes our course.\u201d <\/p>\n
Norah\u2019s grandson Daniel, whose father Donal died when he was very young and who recently lost his sister Lorna, said his grandmother\u2019s greatest work had been her children and the effort she had put into them. Describing Norah as a gardener whose greatest garden has been her family, he recalled the relevant adage that \u2018tend to your garden and the garden tends back to you\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I see in how much her own children are nurturing her now, looking after her. Granny is, I think, that kind of star that we all unite under.\u201d <\/p>\n
Noel Clare spoke for the community, recalling that as a youngster he was \u201calmost adopted\u201d into the Breslin family. \u201cWe all have great memories of the friendship, of the good times we had, particularly in our teenage years. It didn\u2019t matter who you were or what you did \u2013 and, God knows, we did some wild things \u2013 we were always welcome and always accepted.\u201d <\/p>\n
He recalled Norah\u2019s involvement in setting up a Brannockstown branch of the Irish Countrywomen\u2019s Association, which became a tremendous focal point for local women. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t so much about the skills they were learning as it was the coming together, the community, and getting out of isolation.\u201d She also started a youth group, which became a very successful outlet for young people.<\/p>\n
Noel also touched on the Community Capers through the 1970s, where Norah Breslin was hugely involved with the Brannockstown area, and concluded with a reflection of the \u201cripple effect\u201d that Norah has had on those around her. \u201cShe touched so many people, and they in turn go on to work with other people and enrich their lives as well. What she has done will continue forever after to enrich not just the communities of Brannockstown and Kilcullen, but much further afield.\u201d <\/p>\n
Speaking for the Kilcullen Church Choir, PJ Lydon remarked on the more than 60 years of completely voluntary service that Norah had given to the parish, which in recent years was recognised by the awarding of a Benemerenti Medal by Pope Francis. \u201cMany of us learned harmonies from you, some of us learned discipline. All of us learned kindness and dedication. You shaped the sound of the choir, and the spirit of the parish, and the memories of generations.\u201d <\/p>\n
Following the entertainment for the evening, which included Oliver Callan and the aforementioned Celtic Tenors, some of Norah\u2019s great-grandchildren helped blow out four cakes with a total of 100 candles.<\/p>\n
Even with those extinguished, the light of the occasion shone on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IT MAY have been a celebration of her 100th birthday, but when the guest of honour sang a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80],"class_list":["post-605010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}