RIP: Kilkenny parish mourns ‘one of its most beloved people’ following death of Kitty Drea
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam
On Saturday, September 19, Inistioge lost one of its most beloved people.
There are some people who simply become part of the fabric of a place. They are woven into its memories, its stories and the everyday lives of generations. Kitty Drea was one of those people. For so many who knew and loved her, she was quite simply the heart of Inistioge.
Together with her husband Jim, Kitty ran Inistioge Post Office for many years, while raising their family in the heart of the village square. But the Drea household was never just a family home. In many ways, it was another little centre of village life.
The door was always open.
People came and went throughout the day. Friends of the children called in, neighbours stopped for a chat, and there always seemed to be somebody sitting down to eat. Kitty must surely have cooked twice as much food as her own family needed, because somehow there was always a dinner for whoever happened to arrive at the door.
Nobody needed an invitation. Nobody was made to feel that they were imposing. If you were in Drea’s, you were welcome.
That was Kitty.
Her kindness was effortless and genuine. She possessed that rare ability to make people feel completely at ease in her company. She was friendly, warm and interested in everyone she met. She loved a chat, had a fabulous sense of humour and was almost invariably in good form. She brought warmth and good humour wherever she went.
Even during the latter months of her life, when she must undoubtedly have been enduring difficult days, she retained that remarkable spirit. She remained upbeat, interested in others and determined to meet people with the same warmth she had shown throughout her life.
And Kitty never forgot people.
Someone could have left Inistioge many years before, lived abroad and returned after decades away, and Kitty would recognise them almost instantly. She remembered people, their families and their connections because people genuinely mattered to her.
It would be difficult to find anyone who ever had a cross word with Kitty. People from every generation loved her.
Many will remember Kitty as the Postmistress of Inistioge, a role in which she became such a familiar and much-loved figure that she famously appeared in a documentary about her time in the village Post Office.
But there was another side to Kitty's work that was carried out quietly, without recognition and without any desire for praise.
During the extremely difficult economic years of the 1980s, when many local families struggled to make ends meet, Kitty quietly helped people who found themselves in difficulty.
She did these things discreetly. There were no announcements and no expectation of gratitude. In all cases, nobody else ever knew. To some families during those difficult years, Kitty was nothing short of a guardian angel.
Perhaps that tells us more about Kitty Drea than any list of accomplishments ever could. Her kindness was not something performed for others to see. It was simply who she was.
The extraordinary affection in which she was held was evident at her funeral. It was beyond standing room only. Generations came to say goodbye: people who had known Kitty throughout their lives, families whose memories of her stretched back decades, friends of her children, former neighbours and people who had moved away from Inistioge long ago. Even those who had only recently made the village their home wanted to pay their respects.
They came because Kitty had touched people's lives.
Above everything else, Kitty was a wonderful mother to Matt, Seamus, Marguerite, Eamonn, Pat and Michael. But in a village where so many children and young people passed through the Drea household over the years, she became something of a surrogate mother to countless others too.
There was always room for one more around Kitty's table.
There was always another plate.
There was always time for another conversation.
And there was always a welcome.
These may sound like simple things, but they are the things people remember for a lifetime.
Villages are not made special simply by their buildings, streets or beautiful surroundings. They are made special by their people – by those who create a sense of community through countless small acts of friendship, generosity and kindness.
Kitty Drea was one of those people.
She belonged to an extraordinary generation for whom looking after neighbours was simply part of life. She helped people without being asked, fed people without counting the plates, welcomed people without wondering how long they might stay, and offered friendship without expecting anything in return.
Her passing leaves an enormous emptiness for her family, her friends and for Inistioge itself.
On 19 September, the village did not simply lose a much-loved resident or a former Postmistress.
Inistioge lost part of its heart.
Those fortunate enough to have known Kitty will remember her smile, her humour, her kindness, her open door, the conversations, the shop, the Post Office and that wonderful ability she had to make everyone feel welcome.
There are people whose passing marks the end of an era.
Kitty Drea was one of them.
The likes of Kitty may never be seen again, but the goodness she showed throughout her life will live on in the memories of the generations who knew her, in the families she quietly helped, in the children who grew up coming through her door and in the village she loved and which loved her in return.
Inistioge mourns a truly wonderful woman.
Our deepest sympathies go to her beloved family and to all those who were fortunate enough to call Kitty their friend.
May she rest in peace.
(Ruth Croke, on behalf of all the Village of Inistioge)