Soon to be 90, Kathleen Watkins talks about the richness of her life with husband Gay Byrne, the ebb and flow of grief, and why she’s prepared for when ‘God calls her’ Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins’ family album ‘I’m a divil for the early mornings,” Kathleen Watkins says, offering me tea in her home in Ballsbridge. It is something that stayed with her since being taught by the nuns as a child. Now when she wakes up at 5am, her mind is drawn to the years of getting up at dawn to drive her husband Gay Byrne to hospital for his appointments after he had been diagnosed with cancer.
“Oh, I often think of that,” she says. “It was very early, driving through the streets of Dublin city, to find parking, and then get Gay into the Mater.” Join the Irish Independent WhatsApp channel Stay up to date with all the latest news.