Kearney family enjoy catch-upp

REUNION OF FAMILY OF LATE JACK AND ANNIE KEARNEY

The Kearney family of Bray had a great turnout for their reunion at the local tennis club recently.

The family members there were all descendants of Jack and Annie Kearney. Two of Jack and Annie’s children survive, Doley and Nancy, and they were both at the celebration.

There are seven grandchildren, and of those six were represented at the party – the only ones not able to make it being the Austrailian Kearneys. There were also great-grandchildren and even great-great-grandchildren at the family gathering.

Jack Kearney was known as Flanagan and worked on the railway. It was their youngest boy Jimmy who emigrated to Australia.

The Bray family members still keep in touch with their cousins Down Under. ‘It was a very enjoyable night,’ said Jenny Lowe (nee Kearney), one of the organisers. They enjoyed food, a performance of Irish dancing by two young relatives, and performances by bands which included members of the family.

Everyone danced the night away until it was time to close up. Jenny explained that there was a bereavement in the family last year when their cousin John Cotter passed away. It was a big shock to them all. They mentioned that they only saw one another as a group at funerals, and decided to have a celebration instead.

Jack Kearney, Ann Dunbar, Anne Brien, Derek Rowan, John Clarke and Alan Kearney – one member from each of the seven families, except the Kearneys in Australia.

Oldest family member Nancy Rowan with her bridesmaid Doley Clarke and (top) on Nancy’s wedding day.

Young Jack Kearney in the late 1960s with his grandfather, train driver Jack Kearney, who was known as Flanagan around Bray.