“Her contribution to helping vulnerable women and families in Cork and development of services that now provide continuing support to vulnerable people will be remembered for ever,” was the foremost sentiment about Sr Colette Hickey in consideration of her recent passing at age 108, holding the title of Ireland’s oldest person for a couple of weeks. Few have witnessed the sweeping changes of an entire century; even fewer have made the impact that Sr Colette Hickey has on the community.
Her prophetic response to the needs of vulnerable women and children is what motivated so many people to support her work at Edel House and elsewhere”
Born in Barracree, Ballina Mult, Co. Waterford during the First World War on January 31, 1918, as Bridget Hickey, Sr Colette dedicated her life to helping the local community, specifically women and children experiencing homelessness. In September 1935, when she was just 17 years old, Sr Colette joined the Good Shepherd Sisters, making an indelible impact.
In a statement to this paper, Bishop Fintan Gavin remarked, “I was privileged to have met Sr Colette a number of times since I came to Cork. She has been an inspiring witness to the call of the Lord to us all to take care of those most in need. Her prophetic response to the needs of vulnerable women and children is what motivated so many people to support her work at Edel House and elsewhere. I extend my prayerful sympathy to the Good Shepherd Sisters and to Sr Colette’s family and friends.”
Originally joining the sisters at their house in Limerick on Clare Street, Sr Colette was transferred to Sunday Well’s in Cork city after her First Profession, where she worked at a kitchen and bakehouse. “She was deeply loved and respected by everybody. She was kind, hardworking, and practical. And a prayerful woman, right up to the end,” said Sr Jane Murphy, mission leader of Good Shepherd Cork, to the Irish Examiner. “Those of us that knew her will remember her for being such a kind, practical woman of vision really.” The values of compassion and charity that guided the congregation would become the foundation of her lifework.
Compassion
In 1972 acting with her characteristic determination and compassion, Sr Colette founded Edel House in Cork, an emergency refuge for women and children escaping homelessness and other hardships. The original house was located on Dyke Street, but now the much-expanded emergency accommodation charity runs from Grattan Street.
“That’s what impressed me most. She founded Edel House, and it was a few small rooms when she founded it, but now it’s a huge organisation here in Cork.” Said Cork Person of the Year organiser Manus O’Callaghan to the Irish Independent. Continuing, Mr O’Callaghan said, “What made her special to me was, she was a no-nonsense, down-to-earth person and even though she was a member of a religious order, she was a very practical person.”
For her hard work and dedication to Edel House, Sr Colette was inaugurally awarded as Cork Person of the Year in 1993. Mr O’Callaghan, sitting chair of the Cork Person of the Year programme, recalled his conversation with Sr Colette that year. “By way of small talk when I was walking out of the hotel afterwards, I said, ‘If ever I can be of any help to you Colette, let me know,’” he said. “She was on the phone the next morning and I ended up on a committee for 20 years after that.”
She received her award from the then Taoiseach – only one of 10 Taoisigh that Sr Colette saw come and go in her lifetime – Albert Reynolds, who had come straight to Ireland for the awards ceremony after signing the historic Downing Street declaration with John Major.
As well as providing practical help to those in need, Sr Colette also provided perhaps something more important – human kindness and understanding”
Leading the tributes to her passing, Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Damian Boylan commented, saying to CorkBeo that “Sr Colette’s passing is a profound loss, not just to those who knew her personally, but to the people of Cork, and the wider community that benefited from her life’s work.”
Commenting on her work with Edel House, he said: “As the founder of Edel House, she created a place of shelter and sanctuary where dignity, respect, and hope could be restored to women and families facing homelessness and hardship.” Providing insight into who she was personally, the Lord Mayor said that “As well as providing practical help to those in need, Sr Colette also provided perhaps something more important – human kindness and understanding.”
On June 23, 2026, Sr Colette sadly passed in a Cork city nursing home. “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,” said Sr Jane Murphy. Sr Colette’s bright nature continued to shine through even in age. “Her mind was so clear right up to the end, just crystal clear. She is a Co. Waterford woman, and she always would say that. But she saw her life in Cork,” Sr Jane remarked.
Traits
Sr Jane also added that one of her favourite traits about Sr Colette was her endearing ability to take care of those around her. “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 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”
But “She used to say God must have forgotten her, because he hadn’t called her home,” said Mr O’Callaghan. “I’d say to her, ‘There’s enough saints in heaven, that’s why he left you down here.’”
Her good nature was appreciated and loved by those in the local Good Shepherd and Cork community. “She is a visionary who planted the seed that blossomed into what we now know as Good Shepherd Cork over 50 years ago,” an Edel House spokesperson told the Irish Examiner.
Dedication
Cork City Councillor, Cllr Albert Deasy commented on Sr Colette’s dedication to faith and prayer. “In an age that often measures success by achievement, influence or recognition, Sr Colette reminded us of another reality: the quiet, hidden power of prayer. Many people who never met her directly benefited from it. Others drew strength from knowing that they were remembered daily before God by someone whose faith never wavered.”
Cllr Deasy concluded, “As we mourn her death, we also give thanks for her life, for her friendship, for her example and for the enduring legacy she leaves behind.”
