Hundreds turn out to celebrate the life of Shay Casey

The funeral Mass of 40-year-old Shay Casey, who died in an avalanche on the Alps, was not so much an outpouring of grief as a celebration of a life passionately lived.

St Columba’s Church in Douglas, Cork City, struggled to accommodate the hundreds of mourners who gathered to pay their respects to the youngest son of Jim and Joan Casey, whose well-known furniture stores in Cork and Limerick remained closed yesterday as a mark of respect.

Jesuit priest Fr Jim Culliton told those gathered that Shay’s family were not just devastated, but “broken really” by their tragic loss.

Fr Culliton, who came to know Shay during his formative years at boarding school in Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare, described him as “in some ways an ordinary man” but extraordinary in the manner in which he “lived and loved his life to the full”. He counted among his qualities, faithfulness, fun, gentleness, determination, generosity — but this was “not an exhaustive list”.

He had “a keen, bright mind” and was a passionate sportsman and traveller, a proud Irishman, and man of the “Independent Republic of Cork, particularly of Crookhaven”, Fr Cullition said.

Above all, he was “one of these rare people for whom loving wasn’t a complex thing”, which allowed him form authentic relationships with all those he loved.

Fr Culliton described how when Shay first came to Clongowes, he initially found boarding school challenging, but over the years evolved into the type of person that the college saw fit to select in his final year as worthy of the prestigious Aloysius Gonzaga award.

Fr Cullition said the trophy was awarded each year to a student who “epitomises the core values and qualities of a Jesuit education” which, in Shay’s case, was a man “who it was clear had managed his weaknesses and allowed his potential to flourish”.

Shay’s older brother, David, said from the moment he was born, it was obvious his younger sibling was the apple of his mother’s eye.

He was a hit with the ladies too, with David humorously recounting how in a pub in Crookhaven a “gorgeous girl” he had chatted up said: “You’re very nice, but your brother’s lovely.”

Shay was also very determined. He quit a good job in Britain to train as a ski instructor, despite being “the slowest and most cautious” skier you could meet. Yet, within six months, he had qualified and, as a man of few words, was horrified to find his first class consisted of a group of three and four year-olds.

David also recounted how Shay spent two years travelling the world, and when back in Britain, took every opportunity to travel. When he met his death while climbing in the Italian Alps, those who witnessed it said he was just “very unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

Shay was home three weeks before his death and David said it struck him at the time that he had never seen his brother looking so well.

“He was happy, really happy,” he said.

Fr Cullition said he hoped it was a comfort to his family that Shay’s last hours were spent doing something he loved.

Indeed, in the last few months of his life, there were “some exceptional moments, almost like he knew that he had to do these things in the final months of his life”, Fr Culliton said.

Shay is survived by his parents, and siblings Jack, Gina, Peter, David, and Darragh.