‘A very bright light has gone from our community’
The late Michael Coyne.
“A very bright light has gone from our community”.
Those were the words of Fr Micheál Donnelly during the Funeral Mass for 107-year-old Michael Coyne, who was laid to rest today in his native Fairymount in West Roscommon.
Parish priest Fr Donnelly told the mourners in the Church of the Sacred Heart Fairymount that Michael, Ireland’s second oldest man, was born on January 14 1917 and baptised three days later in Fairymount Church.
“A very bright light has gone from our community. The sun has gone down for the last time in his life, and our prayer is that heaven is now a brighter place, if that was possible, because of his presence, and that he is now enjoying eternal life,” he said.
During the Mass, Michael’s nephew and carer Neil McGarry highlighted a number of mementos, which captured his uncle’s life.
They included the parish newsletter which reflected his great faith; one of the seven presidential medals he received; a copy of the Roscommon Herald newspaper which he read weekly; and a packet of seeds representing his love of gardening.
Michael was laid to rest today after Funeral Mass in the old cemetery in Fairymount.
(See full report in the next edition of the Roscommon Herald).
