One of Tyrone’s oldest residents dies aged 105

ONE of Tyrone’s oldest residents, Rosie Keaney who resided in Castlederg for over 100 years, has died.

Rosie Keaney (née) McGlade, originally from Draperstown, passed on Wednesday at Parkview House, where she had lived since turning 100.

Speaking on Friday at her funeral at St Patrick’s Church, which she attended everyday for mass until she was unable to due to her advancing years, Fr Paul Fraser said that Mrs Keaney had a real connection to Castlederg.

Fr Fraser said, “Rosie was a woman of deep faith. She attended mass in this church every day until she had a fall and could no longer attend and then a priest would go and visit her.

“It is not often I celebrate the life of a person over 100 years old; she was born in 1918. Can you imagine the conversations and experiences she had in her long and fulfilling life’s journey?”

Rosie Keaney was the youngest of eight siblings. She first came to live in Castlederg in the early 1920s after her mother Margaret passed away.

She would live with her grandparents who owned a popular bar in the town on William Street.

The youthful Rosie met the love of her life, a young soldier in the Irish army, Jack Keaney from Co Leitrim and the two fell in love and married in 1954 in Ballinascreen, Co Derry.

They would move back to Castlederg and have a son, Gerard who was born in 1957. He sadly passed away at a young age.

Mr and Mrs Keaney later took over the bar from her grandparents and Jack would become a prominent business person in the town and open a bookmakers.

It was said Rosie Keaney was a ‘calming personality’ when things got heated in the bar and was always a kind person who made lots of friends while working in the business.

Following her husband’s passing, Mrs Keaney lived in Hawthorne Park in Castlederg until one day, she fell at Mass and was brought to Parkview House.

Paying tribute this week, Sinn Féin MLA Maliosa McHugh said he knew both Rosie and Jack Keaney well and they were both well respected and liked members of the community.

“She will be sadly missed by all who knew her,” he added.