Champion of the Great Blasket dies after a great, long life
EDNA Bn Uí Chinnéide who was the driving force behind the foundation of Fondúireacht an Bhlascaoid and the establishment of a national park on the Great Blasket passed away peacefully on Sunday, having lived “a long, great life full of interesting things”.
Although she was so embedded in the culture of West Kerry that she would have been taken for a born-andbred local, Edna Killeen was born in 1926 near Claremorris, Co Mayo, into a house that incorporated a pub, a shop and a dairy farm.
Her dream would have been to become a dress designer but in her time the practical thing was to go into primary teaching, which she did in the late 1940s. She initially taught in Rathgar, Dublin, where she met Caoimhín Ó Cinnéide from Baile an Mhúraigh, Feothanach, who was also a teacher and after they married the couple moved back to Caoimhín’s home place.
The ban that prevented married women from working in civil service jobs meant Edna could only work as a temporary teacher when she first moved to West Kerry, but when the ban was eventually lifted she took up a teaching post in Dingle Presentation Secondary School, followed by a time teaching in Lios Póil and then in Scoil Naomh Eirc in Feothanach where she taught from the early 1970s until she retired in 1994.
She brought great dedication to her work, extending her classes beyond the narrow boundaries of the school curriculum to include botany, zoology and crafts - along with home economics for both boys and girls, being firmly of the view that boys should be able to cook. Her approach endeared her to her pupils, among them Dara Ó Cinnéide who described her as the best teacher he ever encountered in his progress from primary school through to third level.
Edna and Caoimhín’s home life was sociable. “There was a stream of poets and writers to the house. She put them all up and fed them – the place was like Heuston Station at times – I don’t know how she did it,” her son Lorcán said this week.
With two teachers in the Ó Cinnéide household there was, not surprisingly, an emphasis on education - but it was education in the broader sense as they immersed their children in the value of ideas, books, curiosity about life and being interested in the world.
Outside of teaching and home life, Edna was very involved in weaving circles and quilting, and she also set up the West Kerry branch of Al Anon.
Edna was devastated by Caoimhín’s death in 1985 but, having been somewhat under his shadow as a wife, she came into her own following that great loss and her tireless passion and single-mindedness was nowhere more evident than in her role in the foundation of Fondúireacht an Bhlascaoid in 1986.
This came about after her son Michéal, who was then working with the Dept of Foreign Affairs in New York, spotted an advertisment in the Wall Street Journal offering Taylor Collings’s land on the Great Blasket for $900,000. Outraged at the prospect of the island being sold off, Edna drove the Fondúireacht an Bhlascaoid project with a formidable determination and perseverance that ultimately led to the establishment of a national park on the Great Blasket.
“She flung herself into it… She got to know all the island people and took it on as a passion that became all-consuming. She did it until about 10 years ago when she couldn’t do it any longer, but she remained very interested and in touch up to her last day,” said Lorcán.
Former manager of Ionad an Bhlascaoid Mhóir Micheál De Mórdha recalled this week how Edna “was always trying to get more done to propagate the story of the Great Blasket.”
“Only for her there wouldn’t be a Blasket Centre,” he said, adding: “When I was appointed manager she was a great support to me and I am eternally grateful to her for her support, which was very important at the time.”
Edna died on Sunday in Oceanview nursing home in Camp, where the care she received was greatly appreciated by her family.
“We couldn’t be more thankful to the management and staff for the care, love and attention they gave her and for the welcome they gave us. It was an extraordinary experience for all of us; they went way above the call of duty and were exceptional to the last moment,” said Lorcán.
And as they mourn this week, Edna’s family also celebrate a mother who Lorcán described as “a very determined, able woman… who lived a long, great life full of interesting things”.