The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Sad loss of leading educator, Fiona
A PALPABLE sense of deep sorrow among the Valentia Island community existed in the church of The Immaculate Conception of Knightstown and subsequently in Kilmore Graveyard as the requiem mass and burial took place of Fiona O’Reilly on Saturday, October 1.
Fiona, who was pre-deceased by her father, Garda Ned O’Reilly, who passed away on January 3, 2010, was originally of the Coastal Terrace, Knightstown, and latterly of Naas, Co Kildare. She passed away in her mid-50s, very peacefully, on Wednesday, September 28 at the Hermitage Medical Centre of Lucan Rd, Dublin, having been terminally ill for only a few months.
A primary school teacher by profession, she commenced her education at the national school of Knightstown, Valentia Island, subsequently attending the St John Bosco Convent in Cahirsiveen and then going on to University College Galway, and the Mary Immaculate primary teacher training college of Limerick.
Her initial years included periods spent as a substitute teacher in Scoil Derarca of Valentia and also at the primary schools of Portmagee and Foilmore. She took a permanent post in 1982 with Scoil Bhride of Kilcullen, Co Kildare, and subsequently took a career break from there in 1990 to do voluntary work with Concern in Bangladesh for a few years. She also worked voluntarily for six months in Somalia with Concern in 1993.
She also spent significant periods in Scoil Lorcáin of Levitstown, Co Kildare, and St Mary’s National School of Saggart in Dublin.
Fiona really left her indelible mark in Kildare educational circles when, in 2005, she became the founding principal of the co-educational Scoil Bhride Primary School of Sallins Rd, Oldtown, Naas, her final teaching base. This school comprised 700 pupils and a staff of 60. She is regarded there as being instrumental in not only establishing the school but also sowing the seeds of a community.
Thus, the church of Our Lady and St David of Naas was full to capacity in celebration of her funeral mass, which was concelebrated by the bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, David Nulty, in association with a number of local priests. She was also accorded a guard of honour by the staff of Scoil Bhride.
Her subsequent requiem mass in Valentia was concelebrated by Fr Gerard Finucane, PP of Waterville, Fr. Liam Morgan, PP of the parish of Naas and chaplin to Scoil Bhride, as well as Fr Michael Flattery, CC Naas. A number of the Scoil Bhride teaching staff also attended. The Valentia Rowing Club accorded a guard of honour in commemoration of her rowing activities there.
Fiona, who passed from this world all too young, will be very sadly missed by the communities of Naas and Valentia, but most of all by her mother Mary of the Coastal Terrace, her sisters Máire and Órla, in-laws, nephews, nieces and all concerned.
Solás na bhflaitheas di.