A final farewell to ‘our sunshine’

THE psalm which Aimee McCabe had sung in church the day before she died rang out yesterday at her funeral.

The 15-year-old student was the last of the five victims of the Navan bus crash to be laid to rest. At her funeral in Beauparc Church in Meath, more than 1,000 mourners heard she had led the church choir for the first time last Sunday with the hymn May the Words.

Celebrant Fr Peter Farrelly said Aimee had been slightly nervous beforehand.

“But it was something very important to her and she sang with faith these words: ‘May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, my God’.”

In his homily, Fr Farrelly said he remembered Aimee’s Baptism at the church, her Communion and her Confirmation. He said she was a person you could “absolutely, completely depend on”.

“When there was a choir to be sung in, Aimee was there to sing.

“She was her own girl, she was great. She had plenty to say for herself,” he said.

Her classmates at Loreto College in Navan joined students from other schools to form a guard of honour as her coffin was brought into the church.

There were also young boys and girls in Seneschalstown GAA club jerseys in recognition of Aimee’s interest in Gaelic football.

The choir she had sung in so often sang Lean On Me after the responsorial psalm. Aimee performed the song in a recent talent competition.

Aimee, who grew up on a quiet stretch of road a mile from the church, had worked as a babysitter and a shop attendant in the local Londis Topshop.

For some of her school friends, the emotion proved too much as they had to be led away by their teachers.

Fr Farrelly sympathised with them but said they had benefited from Aimee’s presence in their lives.

“That life is not wasted. We have memories, good memories, of Aimee. You’re the better because Aimee was with you.”

He added: “Concern has been expressed about the safety of school buses and rightly so. But I hope this debate will go wider than blaming people.”

At the offertory procession, Sarah McCabe, 18, and Lisa McCabe, 11, brought up a cushion which their sister had made in preparation for her Junior Certificate home economics exam.

They also carried a Meath football jersey, a mobile phone, a rabbit soft toy and a Manchester United jersey.

A classmate of Aimee’s, Marian Sheehy, remembered her by reading out a specially composed poem, which said the 15-year old was a true leader who would never be forgotten.

In it the girls described Aimee as “our sunshine” and “always there to solve everybody’s problems”.

She described how every morning and afternoon Aimee would give her school friends a hug.

She said: “We will never forget you, you will be part of our hearts. No one will ever replace you.”

Fr Farrelly thanked Aimee’s parents, Gus and Mary, for delaying the funeral to allow those of the other four girls to proceed. He said he knew the arrangement had worked out well because it allowed them to spend more time with their beloved daughter.

He also said that the deaths of the five girls had “awakened a faith in this parish and the parish of Donore. Faith has been shaken into life. I admit that their deaths have strengthened my faith and sense of occasion”.

In a direct reference to the issue of safety on school buses he said he hoped the debate “will remind us of our responsibility to our children”.

He said he also had to mention the beautiful bouquet sent by Aimee’s beloved band Westlife.

Mourners bowed their heads and the scent of incense drifted across the wind as Aimee’s coffin was carried out of the church to the graveyard behind.

Her school friends followed with a picture of her and a floral tribute spelling her name.

Bishop of Meath, Michael Smith, in the concluding address, said Aimee and the other girls killed in the bus crash were vivacious people whose lives had been cut short.

“But each of these young lives have given enormous gifts and love to their families and I hope that memory will, over time, help to ease the pain.”

President Mary McAleese was represented by Colonel Ray King and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was represented by Commandant Tony McKenna.

Others in attendance included Communications Minister Noel Dempsey, Assistant Garda Commissioner Eddie Rock, CIÉ chairman John Lynch and Meath County manager Tom Dowling.

The Italian town of Bobbio, which is twinned with Navan, sent a special message of condolence from Mayor Roberto Pasquali to the grieving family.