Breda Callanan, Stonecarthy, was noted for her kindness

The death occurred on October 13 last of Brigid (Breda) Callanan, formerly Wallace, of Stonecarthy, Stoneyford, Kilkenny, in her 90th year.

Breda died peacefully in the care of the staff at St Theresa’s Nursing Home, Thurles, where she had resided in recent years.

Her husband Eddie, pre-deceased her in 2009. She is survived by her sons Ian and Bill, her daughter Pauline (Fullam), daughters-in-law, son-in-law, five grandchildren, sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, nieces and nephews, numerous cousins and many friends.

Her mother Mary was an O’Farrell of Kilcurl, while her maternal grandmother was a Ryan of Ballycurran, Tullogher. The latter’s mother was a Hartley of Busherstown, Glenmore, all prolific families, hence the multitude of cousins throughout South Kilkenny and up into Co Wicklow, where a brother and a cousin of her mother’s had intermarried : Sean O’Farrell and Margaret (Peg) Dowling of Jamestown, Glenmore.

Breda was born in Stonecarthy the second youngest child and second daughter of William (Willie) Wallace and Mary O’Farrell.

She grew up listening to stories of the ‘Battle of Carrickshock’ in which her Treacy and Hill ancestors played no small part. These same ancestors were interviewed by none other than William, Canon Carrigan, then working on his magnum opus, the history of the diocese of Ossory. A record of the interview survives in the notebooks of Canon Carrigan.

Her mother, Mary, an able genealogist, was the font of knowledge to whom many had recourse. Even distant Wallace and Treacy relations from as far afield as Ohio and New York checked their ‘facts’ with Mary Wallace before committing them to print.

Mary used to tell the story of three Ryan siblings marrying three Hartley siblings in the latter half of the 19th Century, as if those events had happened yesterday. My eyes used to glaze over in disbelief but years later I found that it was all true.

Mary too used to speak of the Spanish Flu, which in the winter of 1918-1919 caused more deaths we are told than the Great War. The family fatalities included Breda’s maternal grandfather John O’Farrell of Kilcurl, his daughter Kathleen, and his sister, Mary Ann Hartley.

A noted second cousin was Glenmore historian Danny Dowling, who died last year. Indeed near the end of her long life, Danny recorded Mary Wallace. History and tracing were therefore very much part of Breda’s growing up in Stonecarthy. She would have heard too of her father’s run from the Black and Tans and of his incarceration for a period in the basement of Woodstock House.

Breda’s only sister, Ana, Sr Pauline of the John of God Order, Wexford, died as long ago as January 1968 in San Antonio, Texas. Ana trained initially as a teacher but the Order, recognising her academic abilities, sponsored further studies.

Initially she did general medicine then trained as a surgeon, which work she was doing at the time of her sudden death in her early 40s. Their father Willie died a bare few weeks before her at Christmas 1967.

Breda went to Walton Hospital, Liverpool for her training as a nurse. After qualifying she came back to Ireland where she studied midwifery at Holles Street Hospital, Dublin. She moved to Thurles to take up a position in St Anne’s Nursing Home where she delivered a great many babies.

In 1963 Breda married Eddie Callanan of Bouleduff, Thurles. One of my earliest dateable memories of Breda, who was my mother’s bridesmaid in August 1954 and thus my godmother in August 1955, was appearing in Stonecarthy about late August 1967 with Eddie and I believe two sons, one a mere babe in arms. I had been boardered out by my parents with the Wallaces, due to the imminent arrival of my youngest brother.

My mother, Eileen, and Mary Wallace, who married in 1926 the year after my mother’s birth, were first cousins, both having Ryan sisters for a mother. Despite the age difference they were always close.

Rarely a week went by without at least one long telephone conversation in between regular visits to Stonecarthy where the welcome was always warm, a tradition which Breda carried on handsomely in her Tipperary home. No matter how busy she might be, in and outside the Bouladuff home, there was always an invite to whatever meal happened to be served during the visit.

After marriage, Breda did part-time work as a district nurse in the Thurles area and also worked part-time in the sugar factory.

At one time in the 1990s I recall visiting Callanans with my mother, by which time there were three grown up children, a husband, a mother-in-law and a mother, all under the one roof, and all depending for logistical support of one kind or another, from the woman-of-the-house. I think Breda was doing emergency cover for a district-nurse at that time too.

Not so many years ago she said to me on a visit to Inistioge that she hadn’t been much of a godmother. On that particular visit she came laden down with bed-linen, curtains and Tipperary crystal. I had just bought a house in Inistioge which I was renovating.

I assured her that what really mattered was her interest and the great hospitality she and Eddie Callanan had dispensed at Bouladuff over the years. They had always made time to sit and chat and catch up on family news and while her mother Mary was alive, and as she lived to be almost a hundred, there was time for the tracing, not only of relations, but also of the neighbours. Breda, like my mother, would listen and nod knowing full well their roles — that of listeners.

Breda’s four brothers all predeceased her. First to go had been Robert (Bob) a successful Dublin businessman who died in 1985.

Fr Paddy, a priest of the archdiocese of Dublin, died parish priest of Greystones in 2004. Paddy incidentally did a PhD on the 18th Century Butler catechism at Washington University. John Paul II later honoured him by making him a Monsignor, a title he rarely used.

Jack, who farmed near Stonecarthy, died in 2016 while her eldest brother Jim who inherited the Wallace farm died in 2018. Incidentally this family of Wallaces were in fact Walshs of the ‘Walsh Mountains’.

About the middle of the 19th Century the family adopted the Scottish surname of Wallace to differentiate themselves from the many other Walsh families of the district. I believe the headstone bearing the new and old surnames survives in Stoneyford. I know I have seen it!

Breda was a woman for all seasons ; strong, pragmatic businesslike, yet kind of heart. Many whom she had helped nurse during her working life spoke of her many kindnesses to them after her funeral Mass at the Church of St Laurence O’Toole, Munroe. Interment was in the nearby St Michael’s Cemetery.

Within days of her death, her first cousin the Rev Patrick O’Farrell, parish priest of Lisdowney died suddenly.

Breda would have been a regular visitor to her uncle, Dick O’Farrell and his wife Mai in Kilcurl, the parents of Fr Pat. It was a house like her own, where there was always a welcome.

May They Rest In Peace, Amen. JK.