Published: Wednesday, 11th November, 2009 5:30pm
Summerhill woman reaches her 107th birthday!
by Adrian Cusack
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Kathleen Murray pictured last year at her 106th birthday with her great grand niece, Annie Mitchell at HSE West's Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon. Picture: Andrew Fox
A hospital in Roscommon was alive with singing and dancing on Friday last, in honour of a music-loving Athlone woman who was celebrating her 107th birthday.
Kathleen Murray, a native of Crannagh, Summerhill, is now reported to be the fourth-oldest person in the State.
Her remarkable longevity was commemorated with ballads and Irish dancing at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon on Friday last, November 6.
Kathleen, who never married, enjoyed some birthday cake and a drop of her favourite tipple, Harvey's Bristol Cream, at the party.
Bridie Stephens, Ward Manager at the Sacred Heart Hospital, said she never previously came across someone who had reached their 107th birthday.
"Kathleen is doing well for her age, and long may it continue," Ms Stephens told the Westmeath Independent this week. "She has always loved music and singing, and she was a great dancer. Last year she danced a little jig at her 106th birthday."
A former cook at McNeill's undertakers and Naylor's chemist in Athlone, Kathleen then went on to work as a priest's housekeeper, a position she held for many years until her retirement over four decades ago.
She developed a wide circle of friends and would socialise with them on a regular basis.
One vice she had was smoking, and she reportedly smoked 20 cigarettes a day until she moved from her home in Summerhill to the Sacred Heart Hospital in December of 1998.
She had four sisters and one brother, all now deceased, and is often visited in Roscommon by two nieces who live in Ahascragh and Thurles.
Kathleen has received a commemorative medal from the President for each year which has passed since her 100th birthday and Ms Stephens said these will be put on display in a cabinet at the hospital in Roscommon.
"We'll be sure to leave space in the cabinet for a few more medals yet," she said.
