Frontier Apostle who loved travel and literature
Cathy Moran (née McCarthy) 1950 – 2017
CATHY (Catherine) Moran, who has passed away recently in British Columbia, Canada, was the eldest daughter of the late John and Maria McCarthy of Clash East , Tralee.
Born in 1950, Catherine attended Moyderwell Primary and Secondary Schools in Tralee and after her Leaving Certificate trained to be a teacher at St Mary’s Teacher Training College at Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK.
Upon qualification in the early 1970s, she taught for a year in Middlesborough before volunteering to work as a teacher in Northern Canada. In the late 1950s, Bishop Fergus O’Grady had established a Catholic volunteering movement in the Diocese of Prince George (comprising some 135,000 square miles in northern British Columbia) to assist with the provision of Catholic education in his vast diocese.
Called the ‘Frontier Apostolate’, the movement drew teachers, nurses, cooks, tradesmen, bus drivers etc from all over the world (many from Ireland) who dedicated at least a year to the construction and running of Catholic schools across the diocese. The bonds forged between these ‘Frontier Apostles’ were to last a lifetime.
Catherine’s first posting was as a teacher in Dawson Creek on the Alaska Highway where she spent a year. She then moved to the town of Kitimat where she became a teacher at St Anthony’s School. There she met and fell in love with George Moran, a native of the city of Prince Rupert and they were married in Kitimat in 1975.
Their first son, Jamie, arrived the following year and some years later they were blessed with twin boys, Colin and Gavin. Catherine was devoted to her family and to her teaching career. She taught at St Anthony’s School for a total of 28 years before her retirement in 2004.
Catherine’s other interests were travel and literature. She travelled many times back to Tralee to visit her family over the years. She also travelled extensively in Canada and the United States (favourite destinations being the Oregon coast, New Orleans, Santa Fe and Maui in Hawaii).
She also loved France and found her visit to the Normandy beaches particularly moving. She was a voracious reader and kept in close touch with Irish news and current affairs through The Kerryman and Magill magazine.
She was rightly proud of her sons’ achievements. Her three sons are accomplished golfers and Jamie has played in many provincial and national golf tournaments in Canada. He is currently general manager of Bally Hally Golf Club, St John’s, Newfoundland. Her twin sons Colin and Gavin joined the fire service after High School and currently serve as fire fighters in the cities of Calgary and Vancouver respectively.
Catherine was overjoyed when Jamie and his wife Lori became the proud parents of Kiera. Catherine doted on her granddaughter and there was a very special bond between them.
With their children having left Kitimat and her husband having retired, Catherine and George left the severe winters behind and moved south to the town of Salmon Arm on the shores of Shuswap Lake in the beautiful Okanagan valley. Unfortunately in recent years, Catherine encountered some health problems but continued to live life to the full.
Sadly her health problems recurred in November and she passed away peacefully at Shuswap Lake General Hospital, Salmon Arm on November 17. Catherine’s family would like to convey their gratitude to GP Dr Shoesmith and medical team at Shuswap Lake General Hospital.
She is survived by her loving husband George, sons Jamie, Colin and Gavin, granddaughter Kiera, Jamie’s wife Lori and her son Ryan, Gavin’s wife Paula and Colin’s girlfriend Caitlin. She is also sorely missed by her only sister Eileen, her brothers Denis, Thomas and Brendan and her cousins and relatives in Kerry. Her passing is made all the more poignant by the fact that her beloved brother Seán died in April of this year.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis.