Tears as three generations of Wilson family are laid to rest
"SINCE last Monday, Calvary has pitched its tent in our community," Fr. Kevin Hegarty said at the triple funeral Mass for Mary Ann Wilson, her daughter, Marcella Wilson, and grandson Sean Wilson McGlynn, in Erris today.
"The way of the Cross has made its way to the village of Cross where the Wilson family lived," he continued.
As Fr. Hegarty spoke, gentle autumnal sunshine shafted through the stained glass windows and the altar skylight of a thronged St. Joseph's Church.
Parallel to the tiny altar rested two brown coffins containing the remains of Mary Ann Wilson and her daughter, Marcella.
Each coffin carried a photo, taken in happier times, on social occasions.
At right angles was seven year old Sean's white casket, adorned by his photograph and his beloved Paw Patrol teddy bear Pre-Mass, the raw silence was broken by general sobbing when Mary Ann's heartbroken husband Joe (Josie) approached the coffins and kissed each photo in turn.
Fr. Hegarty, assisted by six co-celebrants, was the main celebrant of the funeral Mass for the three family members who died together in a road accident near Claremorris on Monday last.
In a homily lasting 16 minutes, Fr. Hegarty said no words - not even a multi-volumed Oxford Dictionary - could described the anguish of the bereaved families.
Pledging the bereaved ones support on their "dark journey", he said the Wilsons had enriched the lives of those who knew them and loved them,
Mary Ann, he continued, was a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
"Motherhood was at the core of her being. She knew the language of love and she expressed it eloquently in the way she lived."
Of Marcella Wilson, Fr. Hegarty said she had been full of life and laughter when he knew her as a student.
"She had her personal difficulties but she confronted them with courage, grace and dignity."
Describing Seán, Fr. Hegarty said he had been full of life, energy and 'divilment'.
Fr. Hegarty called on the community to support Marcella's other children - Amy, Kelly and Anthony - to give them the kind of life their mother passionately wanted for them.
Tearfully, Amy, who received her Junior Cert results this week, addressd the overflow congregation.
"As you know", she explained, "I lost my granny, my little brother and my mum.
"I just want Sean, the baby of the house, to know we will always love him and he will be in our hearts and minds forever."
Michael Gallagher, speaking on behalf of Seán's father, Anthony McGlynn, said Anthony wanted to express his deep and enduring sorrow for the loss of three people very dear to him.
He also, Mr. Gallagher explained, wanted to express his gratitude for the thousands who attended the removal and funerals as well as those who assisted at the scene of the tragic accident.
On their way to Cross Cemetery where the three accident victims were laid to rest, the three funeral hearses stopped briefly at the Wilson family home in a touching 'farewell' before resuming their poignant journey.