RIP: 'So kind and thoughtful' - Kilkenny community bids farewell to dearly loved woman

Smithstown has lost one of its more senior and respected women with the death of Nellie Brennan (Nee Coogan) a resident of Tinnypark Nursing Home, Kilkenny at St Luke’s Hospital in the company of her family.

In her 93rd year as the Gospel of the Beatitudes was being read at the funeral mass one could attribute each line to Nellie Brennan. She was a true lady from head to toe with a word or two for everyone and so kind and thoughtful. Nellie was a homemaker supreme and reared a large family of four boys and six girls with her late husband Paddy. In her early years she travelled by bicycle but her independence blossomed when she learned to drive with distance being no object. She always dressed to the last and rarely was seen without her unique tam.

READ NEXT: Kilkenny Deaths - Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Nellie took great pride in the careers of her family and also enjoyed all things nature be it the garden or feeding the birds. A loyal follower of Kilkenny hurling how she celebrated all those All Ireland wins. The huge turnout for the obsequies was testimony of the high regard in which the family are held in the area.

She was laid to rest in the Parish Cemetery after Requiem Mass celebrated in the Church of the Immaculate Conception. 

Predeceased by her husband Paddy, sisters Kitty and Nancy. Nellie will be sadly missed by her daughters, Catherine, Mary, Ann, Celia, Paula and Lorraine ; sons, Jimmy, Noel, Pat and Keith ; sister Mary ; grandchildren, great-grandchildren, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law and sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, nephews, nieces, other relatives and a wide circle of friends.

FOR MORE LOCAL BEREAVEMENT NOTICES, CLICK HERE