Couple who died in Cork house fire 'were and still are soulmates', funeral told

The couple's son said he would raise their granddaughter 'in the image of you and make you proud'

The pair of hearses pause outside the family home on the Lower Glanmire Road in which John and Gabrielle O’Donnell died. Picture: Larry Cummins

A man who celebrated the birth of his daughter in Qatar only to lose his parents in a house fire in his native Cork several hours later told their joint funeral mass that they were not only each other's "soulmates" but his "best friends".

John and Gabrielle O’Donnell died when a blaze broke out in their terraced home in Lower Glanmire Road on the outskirts of Cork city on April 4.

The elderly couple had been overjoyed that day having been informed by their son Mark, a pilot, that his wife Grace had given birth to a girl in Doha.

Neighbours had been invited in for tea and cake to discuss the new arrival of baby Hannah. Within hours John and Gabrielle were dead.

John and Gabrielle O’Donnell

Mark told mourners at St Patrick’s Church in Lower Glanmire Road that four generations of his family had lived in the terraced house in which his “two amazing” parents died.

He said that from his great grandparents, to his grandparents to his own mother so many of his relatives had been happily raised in the same house.

“It won’t stop there. We will rebuild it. And the family home and our family history and the many stories of Granny Gay and Granddad John will go on and I will pass them on to my daughter.” 

Mark said his parents met in the 1970s when his father, a native of Achill Island in Co Mayo, was working in Cork in the steel industry. He said once his parents met they were never really apart again.

“Mam and Dad. I couldn’t have asked for better parents. You gave everything and you never asked for anything in return. I am going to raise Hannah in the image of you and make you proud.

"We will see each other again as death is not the end. It is a reunion of family and friends who have passed.

Mark said that his parents “never really fought". 

"They were never apart. And indeed they were and still are soulmates. That would be until my dad would come home looking for his pension card and couldn’t find it. He would find it out the garden four days later. My mother would say ‘John you are meant to hide the money not the card. I already have the money'." 

"Dad was quiet and Mam was the rogue. 

One year a cousin Eddie called at Christmas and gave my mother a bottle of wine. It was accepted and brought in to the room and everything was going great. A few minutes late my Mum said ‘Eddie I have your present.’ Eddie left that house with the very same present he came in with!

He said that John and Gabrielle loved music and GAA.

“They both have a Cork and Mayo jersey here today. I did however have the last laugh. My mother has the Mayo jersey and my father has the Cork jersey.” 

Loss to community

Meanwhile, Mark described the death of his parents as being not only a huge loss for their family but for the tight knit and supportive community in the Lower Glanmire Road.

He said that he and his brothers Damien and John were extremely grateful for the huge outpouring of support received not only in Cork but in their father’s native Achill Island.

“What happened two weeks ago was a tragedy and a shock to us all. It will take time to process and recover from. Tragedies like this happen all over the world to many families. You just don’t expect it to happen on your own doorstep."

The elderly couple had been overjoyed having been informed by their son Mark that his wife Grace had given birth to a girl in Doha. Picture: Larry Cummins

Mark said the large turnout at the mass showed how loved his parents were locally.

He thanked gardaí and members of the fire brigade for their efforts when the alarm was raised and in the days since the “substantial fire” broke out.

He asked members of the congregation to give the emergency services and the gardaí a round of applause for their “amazing work”. 

He also acknowledged all those who helped them to organise the service in a church where his mother was known to donate flowers. Mourners laughed when Mark noted that said donations were a source of consternation to his father who was known to say “what happened my plants?”

The blaze is being treated as a tragic accident. The couple were located close together a few hours after the fire broke out.