Death announced of Edel House founder and Ireland's oldest woman Sr Colette (108)

Tributes have been paid to Cork nun Sister Colette Hickey, who has passed away at the age of 108, just weeks after becoming Ireland’s oldest living person.

Sr Colette joined the Good Shepherd Sisters over 90 years ago at the age of 17, and founded Edel House in 1972, an organisation which provides emergency accommodation for women and children.

She was named the first Cork Person of the Year in 1993, and presented with an award by then taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

Award organiser Manus O’Callaghan said: “She’s been a great friend to me since then, because we were walking out of the hotel and I said to her ‘If you ever need any help, let me know’.

“The next morning she rang me, and I ended up sitting on the Edel House committee for the next 20 years.

“She used to say God must have forgotten her, because he hadn’t called her home. I’d say to her there’s enough saints in heaven, that’s why he left you down here.

“She was a strong woman, and a lovely person, very down to earth. She lived a good life — it’s a very sad day.”

Sr Jane Murphy, mission leader of Good Shepherd Cork, told The Echo that Sr Colette created a strong legacy in Cork.

“She was deeply loved and respected by everybody.

“She was kind, hardworking, and practical. And a prayerful woman, right up to the end.

“Those of us that knew her will remember her for being such a kind, practical woman of vision really.

“She is happy to go home to the Lord. But we are also very sad because she was such a part of all our lives.”

She added: “Her mind was so clear right up to the end, just crystal clear. She is a County Waterford woman and she always would say that. But she saw her life in Cork.

“Even with the staff in the care home, they all loved her because she was just so easy to care for, even in her last days.”

Sr Jane added that one of the many positive traits of Sr Colette was her ability to always care for others.

“I mean, even since it became public there that she was the oldest woman in Ireland, there have been some of the past women that she would have been caring for in early years in Edel House, they’ve even been in touch in the last in the last couple of weeks.

“She is a visionary who planted the seed that blossomed into what we now know as Good Shepherd Cork over 50 years ago.

“We are a big provider for homeless women, children and families in Cork city and in the county as well.

“It all started with Sr Colette, a very small seed all those years ago.”

She joined the Good Shepherd Sisters in Limerick in September 1935, aged 17, and was received into the congregation and given the religious name Colette a year later.

She made first profession in July 1938 and was appointed to the community in Sunday’s Well in Cork, where she worked in the bakehouse and kitchen.