KILCULLEN, 13 March 1999: by Brian Byrne. Recently retired Kilcullen school principal Brian Keyes was given a surprise 'This is Your Life' last evening in the Assembly Hall of the Cross and Passion College. Several hundred people came to celebrate his 42 years as teacher in Scoil Bhride NS, and members of his family, former pupils and many others with whom he had been associated in his work and community life also turned up to add to the surprise.
The event began with the arrival of the landlade who gave the young Wolfhill, Co Laois, teacher his first accommodation, Alice Coleman. From then there was a steady stream coming up to shake his hand, remember a memory, and make a presentation (Brian is pictured above receiving a set of antiquarian books from an early member of the Bridge Magazine editorial board, Elizabeth Kelly).
They included fellow members of the Kilcullen Drama Group, the Kilcullen Credit Union, Kilcullen Community Council and the Kilcullen Heritage Group. Musical entertainment was provided by the Jennifer Landers School of Dancing, the choir of the Scoil Bhride NS, and the choir of the Cross and Passion College.
At a reception afterwards, Brian and his wife Mary mingled with those who had come to wish him well in his retirement. It is a situation which he has prepared for, as he'll now have full time to enjoy a farming life he began seven years ago. "It's no accident that I decided to retire in the spring," he said. "The other day I carried two strong lambs under my arms out to the field, with their mother coming behind. That is nothing less than heaven."
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |