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KILLARNEY is saying farewell this week to the last of a generation as popular Killarney lady and centenarian Mollie Breen passed away yesterday evening.

Mollie, of Countess Road, was over 103 years of age and would have marked her 104th birthday in August. She is survived by her nieces, nephews, grand nephews, grand nieces, great grand nephews, great grand nieces, other relatives, neighbours and many dear friends and the staff and residents at Killarney Nursing Home.

The removal will take place from O'Shea's Funeral Home, Cathedral Place, Killarney, tomorrow, Thursday evening, from 4.30pm to 6.30pm, to St Mary’s Cathedral, where Requiem Mass will take place at 10.30am on Friday. Burial will take place in Churchtown Cemetery, Beaufort.

Mollie never had any shortage of help when it came to blowing out the candles on her birthday cakes, most notably on Sunday, August 11, 2013, when a Mass and birthday party in The Dromhall Hotel were organised in honour of her landmark 100th birthday. Among those congratulating Mollie on that day was Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne. Meanwhile, staff and residents in Killarney Nursing Home threw another party for the popular Mollie that week.

A keen bridge player, Mollie will be missed by all her friends from the card-tables as well as members of Killarney Active Retirement Association. “Mollie had a very long and very enjoyable life,” her nephew John O’Sullivan said. “She had many friends and was a very outgoing woman who loved being out and about and seeing people being happy.”

Mollie (nee O’Sullivan) was born in Ballyledder, Beaufort, in 1913 and was one of seven children.

Mollie worked in Kennelly’s shop in Killorglin for several years. It was in Killorglin that she met her future husband, Jerh Breen, also from Beaufort.

The couple married in 1940 and together ran two jewellery shops in Killarney, with the first on Plunkett Street and the other on Main Street. Mollie and Jerh retired in the early 1990s and the Main Street shop was run by John and Kathleen O’Shea until 2011.

Mollie and Jerh, who died in May 1993, were keen racegoers and Jerh would have been a familiar sight to many as the Killarney racecourse where he used to erect the clock for many years during the race meets.
 

 
Above: Mollie Breen photographed by her nephew, John O’Sullivan.