Tributes have been paid to a popular Abbeyleix teacher who has retired after 38 years of teaching in Scoil Mhuire in the town.
Breda Broderick has brought down the curtain on an association with teaching in the town which spans four decades.
She was assistant principal of the school where she taught generations of local school children.
She moved to Laois from her native Tarbert in Co Kerry.
She married local man Michael and settled in Ballacolla.
Leading the tributes, Cllr John Joe Fennelly said: “I know her 38 years, I remember her coming to Abbeyleix”.
“She came in and taught first in the old girls national school before it was demolished, on the site where the church car park is now,” he said.
“She was very involved in the community,” he said. Amongst her many interests were badmintion and tennis. Cllr Fennelly noted that she won several tennis titles in Laois in singles and doubles.
“She was very involved in the running of the parish hall and when they did fundraising she was very involved in selling tickets,” he said.
“She gave fantastic service to the school. She really was a person you don’t come across very often. She will be a loss to the school. She had a great way with children. I couldn’t speak highly enough of her,” he said.
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