Much-loved pharmacist Jack Staunton laid to rest in his native Castlebar

“A good and decent man who never gave up hope”

At the end of a storm

There's a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind

Walk on through the rain

For your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone.

The much-loved Liverpool FC anthem filled the air of the Church of the Holy Rosary, Castlebar, as the remains of Jack Staunton were brought to his final resting place at the New Cemetery in his native town.

Huge crowds gathered to pay homage to a popular young man who died before his time, but a man who had achieved so much in his life.

The death on December 14 of Jack Staunton, Craughwell, Co. Galway, and late of Milebush, Castlebar, following a courageous battle with his illness, pierced the hearts and souls of all those who knew this loveable gentleman.

Described at his Requiem Mass today as a person ‘who never gave up and fought right to the end’, he is at peace now, sleeping in his eternal reward.

As Fr. Charlie McDonnell, P.P., Athenry, a close family friend, stated: “He did not waste one precious moment while he was on this earth, and particularly so since his marriage seven years ago to Amber.

“And today we give thanks for that, and for the love he brought into the lives of Amber and their children Keeva and Arlo.

“He was a man who loved them so much, and with every ounce of his being tried to stay with you as long as he could.

“Just as he took the name of his grandfather, who he never knew, many of the older generation of Castlebar people have remarked how much he was like Jack senior.

“Jack was not just a pharmacist by profession. He was a pharmacist by vocation. He gave all of himself for others, whoever you were – a staff member, a friend or a stranger off the street.

“When ever you were in his presence, you felt like the most important person in the world. He was so easy, so easy to be with. He was so free. Because he had it.

“Jack was sound and secure in himself, a man who knew love and was able to spread that love, as he did to so many, right up to the very end, thinking and caring and worrying for others.

“He has died before his time and that is awful and terrible, a fact we must acknowledge. But we will find rest in our mourning, our crying and our broken hearts.

“Yet we can never forget the goodness and the greatness that he brought into our lives. And, for that, we celebrate and we will long remember him. We can all take from Jack something that we do not have already, something of his kindness, his generosity, his unselfishness in giving time to others.

“We also pray and extend blessings to all who played a part in his life, Amber, Keeva and Arlo, his parents Pat and Anne, brother David, sisters Anne, Vicki and Megan, and all the Staunton and Corbett families.

“We need to acknowledge the suffering, the pain and the loss and we equally need to acknowledge the hope. Because Jack was a man of hope. He was a man who did not give up. Right to the very end.

“We have all gained from Jack’s goodness and decency, by his always wanting to do the right thing. He was a damn good man. He is at peace now, asleep in that eternal peace.

“When they made him, they did break the mould. Now we must do our best to pick up the pieces of that mould, so he may live on in us and in this world forever.”

People lined Main Street as the funeral cortège passed through the town centre, stopping momentarily outside the Staunton family premises, as it made its way to the New Cemetery where Jack was laid to rest.