Simple service marks farewell to McGahern

THE great wordsmith John McGahern was laid to rest in his beloved Leitrim soil on Saturday under a shower of spring rain and sleet.

His wife Madeline and sisters stood by as throngs of people gathered around the coffin to pay their last respects.

No funeral could have been more appropriate. A simple service with no eulogies or oration, it expressed the understated honesty and integrity of the man.