The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
St Brendan’s remembers the much-loved Billy and Nancy
A TOUCHING tribute was paid last week at St Brendan’s College as family members and relatives of the late Billy and Mary ‘Nancy’ Kennedy called in for a special commemoration for two well-known former workers at th eschool.
Billy, who died in July, 2017, was a stalwart of the college; after he was employed as the school’s first maintenance worker by Bishop Moynihan, he went on to spend almost 60 years working at St Brendan’s.
“He was a man of all trades,” Ed O’Neill of St Brendan’s College explained to The Kerryman. “He was a carpenter, but he could turn his hand to anything. He could do plumbing, he was an electrician, anything, and carried out a huge amount of work at St Brendan’s. He did a lot of work for Bishop Moynihan, also.
“He met Nancy [who died in 2015] at St Brendan’s, and she worked here also. She would have helped out with the boarders that were here in the college; she would have given a hand at mealtimes, tidying up afterwards, and more.”
Last Wednesday, the late couple was hon- oured as family members, members of the clergy, and St Brendan’s staff past and present were in the school for a special tribute to the pair. Now, near the main entrance, Billy and Nancy are to be seen through a framed black-and-white photo of the couple aboard a motorbike.
“Aside from their family, we also had Principal Seán Coffey; and deputy principal Bridget Lucey,” Mr O’Neill said. “Also there were Eileen O’Leary; Tony Behan, a former principal; Frs Larry Kelly and Jim Kennelly; and a former principal, Canon Jim Linnane.
“It was lovely to pay tribute to two figures that were so strongly linked to St Brendan’s.”