A MOTHER of one killed in a fatal collision in Rathkeale just days before Christmas was brought to her final resting place this Sunday (December 29) in a glass carriage led by 10 horses.
Marguerita O’Rourke (née Sheridan), from a well-known Traveller family in the west County Limerick town, died after a van collided with a set of gates she was standing beside on December 21.
A 42-year-old man is currently before the courts charged with dangerous driving causing Ms O’Rourke’s death, as well as a number of other charges arising from the day in question.
Up to a thousand mourners attended Ms O’Rourke’s funeral mass, held at St Mary’s Church in Rathkeale.
The church was decorated in heart shaped white rose floral tributes, which framed photographs of the deceased.
Family friend and chief celebrant, Fr Liam Enright, said he knew the late mother of one “since she was a young child here, she was the heart and soul of her family, full of divilment, full of wonder”.
“She loved, as all the girls here love, to get the hair and make-up done, and then she fell in love.
“When she met her husband Denis, they were like Romeo and Juliet, they just loved each other, she saw no one else except him.”
Fr Enright said the loving couple “were married here last year, and, a month ago, they welcomed baby Edward into their lives”.
He lamented the sad fact that “a month after Edward was born, Marguerita was brought to this church”.
“Everyone loved her, she was so well liked, her family are well liked, well got, and she had an amazing smile and personality,” Fr Enright said.
“We pray that her son will know about his mum from the love that he receives from all those around him, who will nurture him.”
Fr Enright said the Sheridan and O’Rourke families had received condolences from “so many people from all over Ireland and beyond, in America and England”.
“They have sent messages of support, to watch over baby Edward, and Denis, and her parents and siblings,” added Fr Enright who was assisted by co-celebrants Fr Derek Leonard, Fr Willie Russell, and Fr Maurice Costelloe.
Friends of the deceased wore shirts emblazoned with Ms O’Rourke’s picture, and an eight-foot portrait photograph of the deceased and her husband, stood at the end of a white carpet at the main entrance to the church.
Large television screens inside the church and at points around the town showed photographs of Ms O’Rourke in happier times.
A photograph of Ms O’Rourke on her wedding day at the same church in December last year lay beside her coffin during the funeral Mass.
A white coloured Mendyka glass panelled carriage, led by two black Freisian horses and eight white shire horses, provided by Thomas Clarke Carriages of Dublin and John O’Grady Carriages of Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, carried Ms O’Rourke’s remains from the church to St Joseph’s Cemetery in Rathkeale.
‘Love Story‘ by Taylor Swift and ‘The World’s Greatest’ by US rapper R Kelly were played from a sound system as Ms O’Rourke’s remains left the church.
