Mum of stabbed fisherman speaks of ‘huge void’
The mother of a young fisherman who was fatally stabbed early last Thursday morning has said that his loss leaves “a huge void” in the family and that he will be missed forever by his relatives and many friends.
Jack Power, aged 25, was laid to rest yesterday, after funeral Mass in Our Lady’s Church in Carbally, Co Waterford, barely 1km from where he grew up, in Brownstown, on the coast.
Hundreds of people gathered in the small country church, and on the roads and hillsides outside, from early in the morning, to see his remains arriving from the family home and to support his heartbroken parents, Loretta and Richard, brothers, Ben and Lee, and other family members.
A fisherman like his father and grandfather, Jack Power lived life to the full, the mourners heard, and was a loyal son, brother, and friend and packed much into his too-short life.
He died in University Hospital Waterford, on Thursday, after he was stabbed in an incident on the Shanakiel estate in Dunmore East.
A 17-year-old, who was later arrested, was released without charge early on Friday.
“Jack will leave a huge void in our family,” his mother said yesterday, at the end of the funeral Mass. “Loyalty was important to him, one of his best qualities.
"Jack has a lot of friends and they all know who they are today and will miss him very much.
Jack’s life was so short, but he lived it to the full... He worked hard and played hard, was very witty, and loved the craic.
In recent days, for the first time, she said she had heard many stories about Jack from his friends, all of which emphasised his loyalty, sense of fun and love for them all, as well as a love for the sea.
“In his Leaving Cert Irish paper question, his answer was ‘I don’t know anything about Irish, but I’m some man to haul nets’,” she recalled, prompting laughter inside and outside the church.
“We all have memories of Jack and he will always be remembered.”
Symbols of Jack’s life brought to the church at the beginning of the mass included a fishing needle to mend the nets, a sign for Tottenham Hotspur’s home ground, White Hart Lane, a set of darts, and a memoir of boxer Mohammed Ali, reflecting his love of sports.
Fr Donal Hogan told the congregation the presence of so many was a better testament than any words to what Jack meant to everyone.
His two younger brothers, Ben and Lee, said he was a great big brother. He was a role model. They said, ‘if we would be like Jack, we’d be doing very well’. I don’t think we can say anything more than that: ‘if we would be like Jack, we would be doing very well,’ and that’s coming from those who know him best, his family, his brothers.
He spoke about how the word “loyal” had been mentioned again and again in recent days about Jack, that he would always stand by his friends, how he stood up for people in the right without any fuss.
“He wouldn’t tell others what to do, but he would support them, and he loved animals,” Fr Hogan said.
“His father, Richard, shared also how proud they were of Jack, even when he wouldn’t do what they wanted him to do, they still were very proud of him.
“He was independent, he was his own man, making his way in life,” Fr Hogan said.
