Smiles and warm memories no match for grief and heartache

FOR the briefest moments amid their heartache, the families of Mark McLaughlin and PJ McLaughlin allowed themselves smile as anecdotes of their loved ones were shared with those who mourned them.

PJ was a bit of a showman, they heard, a snappy dresser who always wanted to be in style. He had once dispatched his girlfriend across a crowded disco floor to ascertain the source of a pair of boots he spied on another dancer.

But he wasn’t too preoccupied with appearance to ignore a damsel in distress and had once walked the last leg of his journey home from a night out in his socks after giving his boots to the young lady accompanying him who was crippled in her high heels.