IRELAND’S oldest person has died at the Limerick nursing home where she celebrated her 107th birthday in November. Clare native Annie Kett, passed away at Thorpe’s Nursing home in Clarina on Sunday. Mrs Kett, was born Annie Hayes in 1905 in The Glen, Killaloe and trained as a nurse in London before moving to Kilkishen where she farmed with her late husband John. She amazed the medical profession by surviving an operation for a bone condition at the age of six, despite doctors’ prediction that it would be fatal.
Annie has been living at Thorpes Nursing Home for the past four years, and prior to that she lived with her daughter, Margaret (Peg) Courtney.
Annie had hoped to nurse at the hospital in London where she trained but the bone condition in her leg came against her and she failed to pass the hospital medical.
But despite that condition, according to her daughter, Annie never smoked or drank or even took a tablet for anything.
“She only ate plain food with no additives,” Peg said.
Annie married John in 1937 and they settled two and half miles outside Kilkishen in East Clare, where they had a farm and raised their three children, Peg and her twin brothers, John (RIP) and Pat. Annie’s husband, John, died in 1971.
She was described by her granddaughter Mary McCarthy as having had a fantastic outlook on life. She was a “positive person, strong willed and a great woman to make do with her lot,” concluded.
In an interview given on her 100th birthday, Annie herself spoke of her love of farming. She loved working on the farm in Kilkishen. “It was hard work alright, but it’s what we did and knew and liked doing”.
Annie Kett is survived by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
