Bridget “Breeda” Gillen was born April 14, 1932, in Glanmire, County Cork, Ireland, to Brigid and Daniel O’Connell, the fifth of six children. She grew up on Templesque farm with her siblings, William, Helen, Mary, Patrick and Donal. Bridget immigrated to New York City from Cobh, Ireland on a transatlantic steamship in 1955. She was joined later by her brother Patrick and her best friend Patricia who married Patrick.
William Gillen from Red Hook, Brooklyn proposed to Breeda in 1962. They were married at Church of the Holy Family in the Bronx and they honeymooned in a rose-covered cottage in Nantucket. Their first home was a winterized bungalow in Breezy Point and later a house in Belle Harbor, New York, where they raised their four children, Maureen, Eileen, Kevin and Brian. Many Sunday dinners were shared with her brother Patrick’s family. Although Breeda could not swim she loved the ocean and made sure all her children became strong swimmers. They all served as lifeguards on Rockaway Beach, rescuing many lives over the years.
Breeda loved working with her colleagues at Kings Highway Hospital in Brooklyn, retiring at the age of 75. In July 1989 she suffered the loss of her daughter Maureen, a 1st Lt. in the 82nd Airborne Division, from aplastic anemia. In February 1990, Breeda was widowed at 57 years of age after the loss of her husband Bill from congestive heart failure. After these years of darkness, Kevin and Brian, followed by Eileen and Breeda, made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina which gave each of them a new lens on life.
Breeda attended the ordination of her son Kevin “Gabriel” to the priesthood in Subiaco, Italy in 2000 and later returned to Rome when Brian received his doctorate in theology at the Angelicum.
She lived her later years surrounded by her loving grandchildren, John Paul, Kate, Billy and Danny, who adored her and treated her like a queen. She was a granny to many and well-loved in Rumson, where she lived with her daughter Eileen and her son-in-law John Burgess. She loved to attend her grandchildren’s school plays, sports games and their sacraments. She lavished her grandchildren with affection and her gentle wisdom, often singing Irish melodies and telling stories of growing up on the farm.
Her deep abiding childlike faith was an abundant source of inner peace which was a comfort and an example to many. Breeda was a joyful prayer warrior and part of a Rumson Rosary group for 20 years which continues to bear fruit to this day.
Bridget passed peacefully surrounded by her family Aug. 17 at the age of 90. Her loving presence will be missed by her many family members in the Gillen-O’Connell-Burgess Families.
Visitation was Aug. 24 at Holy Cross Church, Rumson. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 25 at St. Francis de Sales, 129-16 Rockaway Beach Blvd., Belle Harbor, New York. Burial will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, 3620 Tilden Ave., Brooklyn, New York. There will be a repast from 1-3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25 at Kennedy’s, 406 Bayside, Breezy Point, New York and at 7 p.m. Thursday evening at the Burgess household, 3 Belknap Lane, Rumson. Thompson Memorial Home of Red Bank has been entrusted with the arrangements.
The article originally appeared in the August 25 – 31, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
