Obituary: Late Pauline Kane (née Granaghan) Ballyshannon

The recent passing of Pauline Kane (née Granaghan), late of 12 Erne Dale Heights, Ballyshannon has been the cause of a huge outpouring of deep sadness and sympathy for one of the Erne town's most beloved and respected citizens.  

It follows her passing which took place peacefully, at the North West Hospice in Sligo, surrounded by her loving family. 

Chief celebrant Fr Paddy Dunne P.P., welcomed the very large congregation who had gathered to pay their last respects to Pauline, a lady who was held in the highest of regard by many communities in south Donegal, where she was best known and universally loved.

He spoke of the painful and sad loss of Pauline, a “mother wife and beautiful friend”.

He alluded to the fact that she had requested mourners to wear purple and added, “we got it right ourselves today”, in reference to his priestly attire and that of concelebrant, Fr Dermot Burke P.E. as he said it was also All Souls Day.

Later in his homily, he recalled fondly that husband Teddy said that Pauline was a Bundoran woman when he first met her; they were out together in the cinema in the resort, but he took her over to this side (Ballyshannon) to save her, but learning of how her husband had been loved and looked after, he could see who saved who.   

“He was a blessed man to have found such a beautiful soul,“ Fr Dunne said, as he recalled their 57 years of marriage together and the years before that.

After attending the Convent school, she worked in the shoe factory and later in the Great Northern and Allingham Hotels. But her first love was looking after children and babies and she was rarely seen without having a few kids or grandkids around her, spoiling them as she always did.   

The couple went off to Corby in 1969 and got married, “but came back for Teddy’s football”, both happy to return home, Fr Dunne said. 

A happy home was created and the four boys followed “and family was what everything was about . . . her whole life was Teddy and the lads” as she was later to embrace with the grandchildren, with the big heart that the deceased had. 

He described her as a kind loving soul whose first passion was ‘the baabies’, a woman who loved flowers, fussy about taking the dead heads out of the flowers, which extended to the flower pots of friends, family and neighbours while out visiting them, watching her ‘soaps’.

She enjoyed trips to the shop, engrossed in the joys of friendship and conversation that followed, as well as the necessary shopping for the home - a kind of social hub and meeting point as it were, all packed into one. 

This was reflective of “her warm nature” which was also reflected in the guards of honour that had been formed in her honour and had attended the wake, despite the horrid weather.   

Her “back of service” to both the Aodh Ruadh GAA club and the local Fire Service was also recalled.

This was for what “was a big mother’s heart, a big kind heart, the kitchen full of grub, a busy kitchen where you get fed and water no matter who it was you would be well looked after and made at home”. And friends were friends for life, “who always put others before herself,” Fr Dunne recalled poignantly as he recalled the good spirit that she herself had displayed over times of illness, with the love and support that surrounded her.

Pauline will be sadly missed by her dear Husband Teddy, her sons Gary (Yvonne), Paul (Martina), Mark (Sinead), Conal (Sinead), her adored grandchildren Larissa, Ciara and their mother Yolanda, Chloe, Rian, Mya, Emily, Mollie and Bebhinn. 

She will also be sadly missed by her brothers Seamie, Roy, Ben, her sisters Marie Smyth and Joan Duffy, nieces, nephews, all extended family and friends to whom deepest sympathy is extended.

Pauline is predeceased by her parents Jim and Kitty, brother Vincent, sisters Nolleen, Angela and Helen.

After the Funeral Mass, at St. Patrick’s Church, burial followed afterwards in St. Joseph's Cemetery, The Rock, Ballyshannon.