Geraldine Gannon was a “champion of simple values”, her funeral was told
The late Geraldine Gannon.
Geraldine Gannon (85), who tragically lost her life in a road traffic collision at Scramogue on Tuesday, was a “champion of simple values”, her Funeral Mass was told today, Friday.
In a tribute at her Funeral Mass at Strokestown Parish Church, her niece Síofra said Geraldine was a champion of simple values, “farming the land, taking care of her family, spending time with her friends and the wider community”.
Siofra said it was difficult to put into words how the events of the last 72 hours had affected their family. “We feel her loss immensely today,” she said.
Mourners were told that her family were so grateful to have marked her 85th birthday with a wonderful celebration in the Hodson Bay hotel last Spring.
Siofra said Geraldine would forever be remembered for her values of faith, community and love.
She said Geraldine's family were always in the forefront of her mind and in her final hours, she spent time with her sister Rita and brother J.J. on an impromptu visit to his home in Lanesboro.
She said it was “a visit which proved to be so special, giving us great comfort to know that she would have been in her element in that kitchen and it would have been the highlight of her week.”
The Funeral Mass was told that her sister Rita, who was also injured in the accident, was watching from ICU in Galway University Hospital where “she is stable and we ask you for your prayers for her at this time”.
“On behalf of her and her entire family, we would like to extend our extreme thanks to everyone who has rallied around to support us at this very difficult time,” she said.
Siofra also acknowledged Geraldine’s adored carer Linda Flanagan “who went above and beyond the care of duty in providing care and companionship to Geraldine, and to her nephew Damian Fallon, as a member of the emergency services, was the first to arrive at the scene of the accident on Tuesday".
“He calmly carried out his professional duties giving reassurance to Mum in what must have been a very difficult circumstance for him,” she said.
Thanks were also extended to Geraldine's Active Age friends, as she spent "countless hours" with them in Strokestown Day Centre and in more recent years, in the Silver Eel "playing 25 and knitting and crocheting.”
Mourners were told that there wasn’t a birthday or an anniversary she would forget, taking a keen interest in each nephew and niece and extending this to her grandnieces and grandnephews of whom she was so proud.
Chief celebrant, Fr. Eamon O'Connor said that Geraldine's family was "the backbone of who she was". He said she had deep faith and a great devotion to Knock Shrine.
Fr O'Connor said that she continued to make the annual trip to Knock into her final years.
During the Mass, symbols of her life were brought to the altar: a crocheted blanket illustrating her great talent for crochet; a prayerbook representing her deep faith and devotion to daily prayer which sustained her through her life; a flowering pot representing her love of gardening and a book on Sliabh Ban representing her love of local history and reading.
Beloved wife of the late Dermot, Geraldine will be sadly missed by her sorrowing brother J.J.; sister Rita (Cox); nephews, nieces, grand-nephews, grand-nieces, brother-in-law Dermot, sister-in-law Marella, cousins, her carer Linda, relatives, neighbours and many friends.
Burial will take place afterwards in St. Coman's Cemetery, Roscommon.
