A group of Killarney classmates gathered at the International Hotel on Saturday to celebrate 60 years since their school days. They travelled from Florida, Philadelphia, Galway, Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Kerry to mark the monumental occasion. 

The former schoolmates attended Loreto Secondary School, a boarding school located on the Muckross Road, from 1960-1965. It was run by nuns and the school welcomed both day pupils and boarders. The day pupils were from Killarney and the boarders came from all around Munster.

Margaret O’Sullivan, a past pupil and one of the organisers of the reunion, reminisced on her time at the boarding school. “It could be lonely being away from family and friends,” she said, “but it was a happy time in our lives.” She remembered the nuns fondly, describing them as “lovely,” and spoke positively about the quality of both the lessons and the food.

The school principal was Mother Dererka. A few notable teachers included Mother Eucharia who taught French, Frances Jerome and Letitia (Music). Mother Theresa Austin and Mother Immaculata (Maths). “The nuns were all called Mother.” explained Margaret as she listed off the names of her old teachers. While the students were taught mostly by nuns there was one teacher, Miss O’Sullivan, who taught History and Geography.

The travel route to the school differed based on where the students lived in Killarney. Margaret recalled how the ‘town girls’ travelled to school. “It was by a minibus driven by a lovely man called Denis Doody, and the Muckross and Torc gang all came via bike.”

She continued: “10 out of the 30 pupils in our year would have been Day girls. The Town/Muckross Torc girls at the Reunion were Betty Cremin, Breda Doody, Kathleen Horgan, Anne Maguire, Nell Moynihan, Honor O’Leary, Margaret O’Sullivan and Eileen Walsh.”

Margaret, who is from Killarney, got to experience the school in both ways as she attended as a boarder for two years. She explained that 20-30 students were in the same dormitory and all subjects were taught through Irish.

She recalled some interesting memories from the school. These included Saturday morning elocution lessons and in-house fashion shows. The school also boasted a lovely choir. She described it as a very forward-thinking school.

Fifteen women attended the school reunion, including one who travelled from Florida and another from Philadelphia. On the night, the ladies enjoyed prosecco, good food and a singsong, all while reminiscing about their happy school memories.

Explaining how the reunion came about, Margaret said it all began with a chance encounter in 2013:
“I was in Rome on the Hugh O’Flaherty tour and happened to meet a lady at one of the destinations. It turned out to be a former classmate of mine, Ann Moriarty. We got chatting, and she said our 50-year reunion was coming up in 2015. She asked would I organise something for it.  She was a nun, based in the Loreto order in South Africa. I gathered a few of the girls in Killarney, and we celebrated our 50th anniversary in 2015. We decided to do it again for our 60th this year.” Unfortunately, Ann passed away a few years ago but Margaret said that Ann was the reason for the reunion. The group hope to make it an annual meeting moving forward.