The ‘Queen of Kelly Recovery’ lived a life of fun and laughter
BRAY and Kilmacanogue said a sad farewell to a wonderful woman last week, with the death of Bridget Kelly (née Fox), at the age of 93.
Bridget, who passed away peacefully at home, had a full and fun-filled life, lived with great energy, kindness and humour, and will not least be remembered for her annual bracing dip on the first day of the year for the Lions Club’s Bray Charities Sea Swim.
She was a part of the fundraising event every year from its founding in 1982, up until just a few years ago.
A native of Bray, Bridget was one of the founders of Kelly Recovery in Kilmacanogue.
She was born on Ardee Street, before moving to Dargan Street with her parents and siblings. She and her late husband Anthony (Tony) settled on Dargan Street, where they raised their two daughters and three sons.
She and Tony met when they were both campaigning for Fianna Fáil. They got married in St Peter’s Church, with a reception in the Fox’s Dargan Street home, before the couple went on honeymoon to Scotland.
Bridget was a champion swimmer and life-long member of Bray Swimming Club. She twice won the Frame Memorial Cup for the 950-metre harbour race.
She also won the Walsh cup for all the clubs of Ireland at about the same distance.
Bridget was renowned for the entertaining costumes she wore to the charity swim in Bray each New Year’s Day. On one occasion, Bridget and her late brother Sean dressed up as Mrs Doyle and Father Jack. She was the priest and he was the housekeeper! She raised a huge amount of money for charity during her years doing the New Year’s Day swim. She also went swimming in the sea each day after Mass all year round.
She was very active in the Red Cross and was on the winning team of the President’s Trophy in 1970. Hers was the first Wicklow team to win the All-Ireland competition.
Mrs Kelly was a long-standing member and chairperson of Bray Musical Society. Some of her favourite musicals were ‘The Bohemian Girl’ and ‘Where the Lark Sings’.
She won Tesco Mother of the Year nine years ago, collecting a year’s free shopping in Tesco, as well as the well-deserved title.
With no end to her talents, she was in The Star Ceili band with her brother Sean and a few others. She sang, danced and played the fiddle.
Speaking to the Bray People just after her 90th birthday, Mrs Kelly had some words of wisdom to share: ‘You might as well enjoy life when you’re in it, you might be gone tomorrow. I’ve had a good life and a good family and that’s all anyone wants.
‘Life is as it comes. I enjoy life and have plenty of laughs. If you can’t have a laugh, you’ve nothing.’
Bridget is survived by her loving daughters Eilís and Una, sons Eamon and Kevin, sister Betty and brother Willie, her children-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and members of her extended family, neighbours and friends. Mrs Kelly was pre-deceased by her husband Anthony and son Liam.
Her family members are eternally grateful to a team of carers, including Bridget’s daughter Una, who made it possible for her to remain at home. Her neighbours were also a great support, including Sheila Douglas and Gerard Clarke. Her family are also very grateful for the care of Dr John McManus.
Her funeral took place last Saturday at the Holy Redeemer before burial at St Peter’s Cemetery.
According to her wishes, Mrs Kelly was brought to the church and cemetery on the Kelly Recovery truck, reminiscent of the funeral of her late son, Liam, who died in 2014. When Liam founded the business in 1972 with one truck, the ‘office’ was Bridget’s kitchen, where she took the calls.
A large crowd attended the funeral to pay their respects to the family, and remember a legend of north County Wicklow. A FORMER Irish international footballer and resident of Bray has passed away in New York.
James ‘Jim’ Byrne was born in Loughlinstown on November 17, 1929, and would have turned 90 this winter.
James and his Bray wife Joan Dutton, lived on Dargan Street, near her parents, when they first married. The late Joan was the love of Jim’s life and the last clear word he spoke was her name. The two were devoted to each other, to their children and their grandchildren.
From 1951 to 1952, Jim played for Ireland’s international football team and was capped for Ireland in a match against Scotland. He played semi-pro for Bray Wanderers and St Patrick’s Athletic.
His sister, Ena, reminisced recently that she used to love to shine his soccer boots for him before games. One of her earliest memories of him is when she was confined to the hospital with a form of TB, and he’d come visit every day and read to her and tell her jokes to make her laugh.
It was Jim who encouraged his wife to move to New York back in 1961. He loved everything about the city from the moment he stepped foot in it. He immersed himself in the Irish American culture – became the head of the Dublin Society as well as the Shamrock and Woodlawn Golf Clubs, always with Joan by his side. He worked at the Carpenter’s Union local 608 for 30 years before retiring.
He was a man of character and unwavering integrity. Years ago, he told his wife about a man at work who was bragging about the affair he was having, and how he was able to keep it secret. ‘My wife doesn’t know’, he told the other men. Jim stood up and said: ‘The man in the mirror knows.’ He got that line from a poem he loved called ‘The Man In the Glass’, about staying true to yourself so that you can be proud, at the end of the day, and at the end of your life of the person reflected back at you.
He subscribed to Reader’s Digest when his children were growing up, which had a page of quotes at the back. The ones he liked, the children might find written on sticky notes on the bathroom mirror, stuck to a notebook, or shoved into books. One of his favourites was: ‘when the great scorer comes to write before your name, he writes not whether you won or lost but how you played the game’.
Jim loved the written word and used to recite poetry. His favourite poem, ‘Sam McGee’, is about a man who promises his friend that he’ll cremate him when he dies. When the friend dies suddenly in the wilderness of the North Pole, he’s forced to carry his friend’s body for miles in order to fulfil his promise.
Like the hero of the poem, Jim was always a man of his word, a man who kept every promise he made.
He told his family that: ‘The greatest thing a man can do for his children is love their mother’. It was a true gift to his children that their father made sure they knew that there was never any place he preferred more than being by their mother’s side. There was simply no one who was more important to him than Joan.
Jim and Joan were both completely devoted to family and every decision they made was with their children in mind. He was a caring and loving man who went above and beyond the call of duty. He took great care of his children and grandchildren. He was always at soccer matches, tournaments and swimming and dancing events.
He and Joan would come back to Bray every summer to visit relatives and friends, travel around, and play golf. Each year, the whole family would go to Disney Land together, the highlight of the year for everyone from youngest to oldest.
Jim’s funeral took place in St Luke’s Church in Whitestone, New York, where he was an active member of the parish.
He is survived by his three children Geraldine, Jimmy and Siobhán, his sons-in-law Donal McCarthy and Danny O’Connor, and his daughter-in-law Shirley Tom. He will be sadly missed by his grandchildren Caitríona, Meaghan, Danny, Siobhán, Joseph, Brendan, Cara and Alanna, and his great grandson, Conor.