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 the school.

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- ABOVE: 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.”

(second row from left) The family of the late Billy and Nancy Kennedy Juliet, Paul, Maria and Aiden Kennedy, Marie O’Donoghue, John, Tom, Aileen and Kate Murphy at the unveiling of a memory photo of parents Billy and Nancy Kennedy who both worked in St Brendan’s College. Also in photo Ed O’Neill, Sean Coffey Principal, Fr Jim Linnane, Fr Jim Kennelly, Bridget Deputy Principal, Tony Behan, Fr Larry Kelly and Eileen O’Leary.

Photos by Michelle Cooper Galvin The family of the late Billy and Nancy Kennedy Paul, Aileen, Marie and Aiden Kennedy with (left) Ed O’Neill St Brendan’s College unveiling the framed photograph of Billy and Nancy at St Brendan’s College, Killarney on Wednesday.

Billy Kennedy, caretaker at St Brendan’s College from 1951 to 2010, pictured with his wife, Nancy. Billy met Nancy when she joined the staff of St Brendan’s College, Killarney.