Mourning families and friends start their long goodbyes in a silent village
The coffin of Jessica Gallagher, 24, is carried into St Michael's Church, Creeslough. Picture: PA Wire
Another long day lies ahead for the families and friends of those who died in the explosion in Creeslough last week as three more victims will be laid to rest today.
The funeral of 48-year-old James O’Flaherty will take place in Derrybeg at 11am while Catherine O’Donnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan will be laid to rest in Creeslough later this afternoon.
President Michael D Higgins is expected to attend.
Father-of-one James O’Flaherty, who was originally from Australia, had pulled in to Lafferty’s Filling station on Friday when tragedy struck. His son, who was in the car at the time of the blast, survived the incident.
Catherine and James had been queuing at the post office when the explosion happened.
The funerals of the victims of last week's tragedy began yesterday with Jessica Gallagher and Martin McGill.
Having just got her first designer job, and her first professional commission, Jessica Gallagher was on the cusp of everything she wanted out of life.
But on Tuesday the small village of Creeslough was forced to bid a sad farewell to one of its daughters.
Ambitious, hard-working, driven and a straight-talking young woman with forthright opinions on just about everything, the 24-year-old killed in last Friday’s filling station blast in Donegal was also fondly remembered as a practical joker whose party tricks included putting seaweed in her siblings’ beds.
They also included jumping out at people behind a door.
The funeral of an adored daughter no parent ever expects to witness started shortly after her procession through the small Donegal village.
In between bursts of drizzle, and led by a garda outrider a small distance ahead, her hearse eased along the empty Main Street towards St Michael’s Church.
It passed a pub where she would have had a drink, and a coffee shop where she would have had a coffee.
Rather than the usual sounds of a bustling local community in which people frequently stop and chat in groups or just hail each other with a warm hand, there was painful silence.
The bustle was gone and the only sounds were of the crows overhead and the hearse’s engine.
People blessed themselves as it passed bearing her wicker basket coffin adorned with flowers and a bouquet of white with the purple letters of her name.
Parish priest Fr John Joe Duffy told mourners: “When the pathway in which Jessica and others were travelling through life was so abruptly ended by this tragic accident, I wish I as a priest could explain that more fully in a way that words could explain it.
“But we do not have words to explain it."
He added: “it is so difficult to lose one of any age but it is so difficult to lose one so young, for parents to lose a daughter, for siblings to lose one who is so much loved and for a boyfriend to lose his girlfriend that he thought the world of.”
Addressing her parents, he said: “Jessica was such a wonderful gift to you, her family. Life is a great journey, one on which we travel alone in our own way.
“But each step impacts our journey into life, leaves a positive afterglow on so many. Jessica radiated warmth and positive feeling on those who knew her best.”
He said that if anybody were to throw a stone into the water, they would see many ripples coming from where the stone impacts into the water.
“Jessica, through her life, left many ripples, many ripples of love, affection, kindness, warmth.”
Speaking on behalf of her family, he chose words which made it clear that he had spent a long time with them.
“Our hearts are heavy, but our spirits are strong," he added.
He said that although Jessica, who had returned to Cleeslough after studying design and fashion in Paris and Edinburgh, was of “a slender stature”, she was a strong, young woman.
“She was strong in her own opinions and self belief and her determination and her unstoppable confidence," he said.
“She would tell you what she was thinking but she could also let you tell her what you thought of an opinion whether you liked it or not, or whether she liked it or not.”
As he spoke, some of those among the mourners who knew her personally wiped off tears streaming down their faces.
Others clutched the hand of the person next to them, or simply bowed their head and closed their eyes.
It was clear Fr Duffy was voicing the very essence of an adored young woman whose loved ones simply cannot comprehend what has happened.
“Jessica never had the faintest problem expressing herself,” he continued. She could talk for all Ireland. She didn't have a switch-off button.”
And then, after a pause, he added: "This sadly is the first time for us that we are experiencing a Jessica who is quiet."
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