12 Kay Tracey

Kay Tracey in her garden
Cathy Tracey
A painting by Kay
Cathy Tracey
A painting of a house in the countryside by Kay Tracey
Cathy Tracey
Beautiful crochet Christening Robe by Kay
Cathy Tracey

Born Kathleen Kilcullen on 12th of April 1937 in Sea View in Enniscrone in Sligo. Kay went to college in Sion Hill to become a home economics teacher. Gay Byrne gate crashed her 21st birthday party in Dublin. Kathleen taught in Grange in Sligo.

Marriage

In 1959 she met Tom Treacy in the Atlantic ballroom in Enniscrone. They married in 1963 and she moved to Ballinrobe and had four children Mary, Cathy, Tom and Des.

Setting Up Ballinrobe Credit Union

Billy O’ Carroll and Kay attended a meeting in Ballinrobe and as a result of that meeting the Credit Union was founded in 1982. Kay was on the board of directors until 2016. She graduated in Belfast in her 70’s obtaining a Credit Union diploma. She was part of the planning committee which resulted in the lovely stone building on Main Street, which is the Credit Union building. She is very proud of how well the Credit Union has progressed.

A Keen Interest in Opera

She is very keen on music and attends the Opera Festival in Wexford every year and is a friend of the Opera in Galway and Wexford.

Kay was a founder member of Ballinrobe Musical Society in 1973 when it was restarted up again. She took part in a lot of shows and did front of house for many years.

Hobbies

She loves to paint with Kay Brennan and her friend Rosemary Jennings [RIP]. They have produced lovely paintings. In Kay’s kitchen she has lots of her art works on display. Kay loves to walk the Bowers and Cornaroya and attends aqua aerobics with Mary O Connor in Westport. She used to cycle to Clonbur and beyond with Nuala Naughton. That changed to a walk and now in their 80s they meet for lunch and the chat every Sunday. They have been lifelong friends.

Baking & Crochet

Kay always baked for the sale of work and entered her brown bread in the annual Ballinrobe Agricultural show. She also entered her crochet. She makes christening robes, boosters and hats for babies as gifts. She bakes cakes for her 9 grandchildren and birthday cakes for the lucky staff of Treacy’s pharmacy.

Travelling

She has travelled the world with Nuala Naughton. China. Russia. Egypt. Israel. Jordan. Sicily. Malta. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Paris. Verona to see the opera. Spain. Switzerland. Paris in 1992 was their first venture and gave them the travel bug.

A Positive Outlook on Life

She has a wonderful sense of humour and she often made posters and hung them up in Nan Biggin’s and Martin Murphy’s on people’s birthdays. She is always in great form and has a very positive outlook on life. She cheers people up. She loves Ballinrobe and has had a wonderful life here.

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