Aoife Beary 'embraced life' after surviving Berkeley Balcony collapse, mourners told
A mourner carries the mass booklet featuring a picture of Aoife Beary at Ms Beary's funeral today. Her uncle and godfather James O’Doherty in a eulogy said: "Dear Aoife, your battle is at an end." Photo: Colin Keegan
Aoife Beary, a survivor of the Berkeley Balcony collapse, was a person who “embraced life and all of its possibilities,” mourners at her Funeral Mass heard.
Ms Beary, 27, who survived the tragedy which claimed the lives of six of her friends in the US six years ago, passed away on New Year’s Day at Beaumont Hospital after suffering a stroke three days earlier.
She became the seventh victim to die as a result of injuries suffered in the Library Gardens Balcony Collapse in Berkeley, California, in 2015. Ms Beary and six other students suffered life-changing injuries as a result of the balcony collapse.
Hundreds of mourners began to gather an hour prior to the 10am ceremony at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Foxrock, south Co. Dublin, to pay their respects to the occupational health student.
Students from her former secondary school Loreto Foxrock formed a guard of honour as her remains were carried in a wicker coffin adorned with a floral bouquet was brought into the Church for the start of the hour-long service.
Symbols representing Aoife’s full but “adventurous life” were brought to the altar — including a pair of Irish Dancing shoes which were as Aoife danced from the age of six to 21.
Poignantly, mourners were told that she danced in competitions all over Europe and completed her final dancing exam a week before travelling to Berkeley in 2015.
Her UCD science degree scroll and a coffee cup were also on the altar as mourners heard her “day always had to begin with a vanilla latte”.
Those gathered to pay their respects to her parents Mike and Angela, younger siblings brother Tim and sister Anna were told in the homily by Fr Kieran Dunne that, “‘What can be said of her resilience and her capacity to dry-humouredly comment on the circumstances of her life?
“She overcame obstacles she never asked for and she didn’t allow the tragedy of the balcony collapse in Berkeley to define the totality of her life, and her innate courage and bravery allowed her to continually challenge herself.
"Today we gather to celebrate a life, a person of remarkable gift and talent. A woman who faced the very depth of loss of many friends and personal injury to herself and others.
"A person who embraced life and its possibilities again, finding especially new growth in life in her friendships and in her study in Oxford Brookes.
“She was a loving, loyal, faithful young woman who had the capacity to nurture true friendship," Fr Dunne said adding that her death "just crushes us with total surprise, deep grief, and a sense of hopelessness.” The young woman, who was awarded a BSc in pharmacology from UCD was also remembered for her adventurous nature that she had since she was a child of 10 years old.
Aoife’s uncle and godfather James O’Doherty in a eulogy on behalf of her family said she “fought such a good fight” as a result of the “burden” of her injuries.
"Dear Aoife, your battle is at an end. You fought such a good fight. The burden of your injuries, the burden of dealing with them didn't leave a lot of space for joy in living.
"But you insisted on living life well. You insisted on a life full of meaning and purpose. It was grounded in your ability to connect with people. The strong friendships you've built from an early age, I can't give any better testament to those friendships than your friends who brought up your gifts today and said your prayers. They're childhood friends that you maintained all your life.”
Mr O’Doherty told mourners that she “didn’t forget’” her friends that were killed in the tragedy, “especially when she went to California to testify in front of California’s building legislator.
“You didn’t forget your friends when you went and sat in front of the lawmakers in California. And you said those words that I think everybody here remembers — that ‘your birthday will always be their anniversary’.
"I think that's a fabulous tribute to your ability to connect with people. You continued to make new friends. Your love of travel, your 25 by 25 allowed you to connect with people around the world and particularly in your latter years at Oxford Brookes when you made strong friendships in the UK.
“And one of the valuable things was that those friendships came without the baggage of Berkeley. She didn't let the accident define her or become a victim."
He asked mourners to celebrate Aoife's life.
"We never expect and no parent should have to endure a phone call to summon us to the other side of the world to take care of our sick child, to nurse her back to health.
"No parent should have to worry about her recovery, no parent should have to be anxious about her future. No parent should have to bury their child.” Those who died — Lorcán Miller, Eimear Walsh, Niccolai Schuster, Eoghan Culligan, and cousins Olivia Burke and Ashley Donohoe — died in the collapse aged 20 and 21.
Despite her multiple injuries, Ms Beary campaigned alongside Amanda Donohoe’s family to force building companies to release public safety records and report any work-related crimes or settlements to California’s building regulator.
She testified before the California state legislature in 2016 saying: “Now my birthday will always be their anniversary,” she said.
At an emotional hearing in August 2016, Ms Beary told US politicians that, “some of my injuries will be with me for the rest of my life”.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
