Munster Express Online

Great sadness enveloped the entire locality at the news of the death on Thursday last of Philomena Ryan, Ballyneety, who passed peacefully away at her home.

The former Philomena Veale, she was a lady of countless outstanding attributes, not least the roles she fulfilled as a loving wife, mother, and grandmother. She was of course renowned too for her friendliness as a neighbour – one of the best in fact anyone could ever want to have. Nothing was never too much for her if she could help and facilitate others, and her loss not just to her nearest and dearest but to he legion of friends is quite incalculable.

Philomena had that wonderful knack of being able to dovetail comfortably into every company, young and old, and her charmingly pleasant personality truly endeared her to one and all. She was the last surviving member of a family(the Veale) of thirteen, and sadly lost her husband several years ago. She reared an exemplary family of three, and one of her two sons, Michael A., went on to become one of the country’s most successful businessmen heading up the

Dublin based Saltan Properties. He is of course the owner and licensee of “The Stables’’ pub in Abbeyside and also set up the now famous Al Eile Stud close to the family home at Ballyneety. In every respect Philomena as a lady of the purest kind, and that was reflected in the huge attendances at both the removal of her remains to Kilgobinet Church and the funeral Mass and subsequent burial in the adjoining cemetery. They were fitting final tributes that the kind lady herself would so very much have appreciated.

Philomena is survived by her sons Patrick and Michael A, her daughter Marie(Moore), Ballinamuck, and a huge circle of other relatives. To all of them our sincerest sympathy is extended on their immense loss.