Kay realised her dream of returning to family ancestral home in County Limerick

KATHLEEN Houlihan Timmes, who was born to Irish immigrants in Queens, and ultimately fulfilled a lifelong dream of returning to her ancestral home in Limerick has died in Massachusetts, USA.

Kathleen who was also known as Kay was born in 1937, in Sunnyside, Queens, New York, to immigrants Michael Houlihan from Newcastle West and Kathleen Wrenn from Athea. She attended school in St Theresa’s parish and St John’s University. As a young woman, she proudly worked on a high floor of the Empire State Building.

In 1959, Kay married the love of her life, John Timmes, and together they shared over six decades together. They lived in Brooklyn, Flemington, Jackson Heights, and Williston Park before settling in Montgomery Township, New Jersey, where they raised their family and lived for 25 years.

Upon retirement, John and Kay fulfilled a lifelong dream by moving to a thatched-roof cottage in Athea, where they spent the next 28 years. Kay devoted herself to her five children. She was also an active volunteer with the Mary Jacobs Library and the Princeton Hospital Fête, and she pursued a wide range of passions with enthusiasm and skill.

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She mastered the Irish language, loved gardening and sewing, and was deeply engaged in genealogy, Irish history, and antiquing.

In 1976, Kay was the architect and designer of Montgomery Township’s Bicentennial Quilt, and she only regretted that she did not live to see it displayed again for the township’s upcoming semi quincentennial in 2026.

In 1988, Kay and John purchased her ancestral family home in Athea, a 200-year-old thatched-roof cottage known as The Forge. Over the course of several years, they lovingly restored it in their spare time before retiring there permanently in 1997.

She lived out her dream in Ireland, surrounded by green fields and her beloved country garden, where she was happiest nurturing her horticultural talents and visiting family and friends.

Kay was a true seanchaí — an Irish storyteller and historian. Her December 2025 passing marks the loss of a remarkable repository of family history, memories, and vivid stories.

She was predeceased by her beloved husband, John, and her son, John Matthew. Kay is survived by her daughter Eileen Bruckman and son-in-law Barry of Merion Station, Pennsylvania; daughter Kathy Timmes of Alva, Florida; son Peter Timmes and daughter-in-law Jill of Ewing, New Jersey; daughter Clare Waterloo and son-in-law Steve of San Anselmo, California; and daughter Margaret Bussiere and son-in-law Paul of Hanover, Massachusetts.

She is also survived by eight grandchildren: Connor, Fiona, Teagan, Isabel, Cassidy, Eileen, Luke, and Alice.

A funeral service will be held in Athea in the spring when the daffodils are in bloom on a date to be announced.