In memory of Mary McKiverigan

Celebrant: Very Reverend Canon Powell

A sad occasion like this today is an occasion to reminisce and to allow the mind to linger on moments from the past. Memories flood back of experiences of being loved, cared for, and encouraged. This is a time when gratitude for a loving mother, grandmother and great grandmother and sister wells up in your hearts for a ‘job well done’. It is a time of awakening to an appreciation of the gifts and blessings received. It is only in hindsight that the gift becomes clear. Life is lived going forwards but understood looking backwards.

Mary made you and shaped you. She lived for you all.

She is with you in the way you walk and talk, in the things you enjoy and the things you fear, in the things you’re good at and the things you couldn’t do well in a fit; she’s with you in the way you think, in the very way you blink your eyes or move your hands, your every tick and mannerism. She is part of you and will always remain so.

Home we all know is where the heart is and today the heart is not at home. The heart has gone to a different place. For it is true that today, home is joined to heaven in a more profound way.

Mary, whom you have loved, has gone before us to our eternal home. And it is our home too. Mary has now gone around the corner from you and in different ways she has shown us some of the goodness that God puts into people. It was largely through her that God has been good to you. So we give thanks to God for her life and it is with confidence that we pray to the same God to give her eternal rest.

To her family, Mary was a rock, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She was the button that held everything together. She died on Mother’s Day.

Mary was born in Castle Hill 1936. Oldest of 8 and went to school in the old school beside the chapel

Worked in Wades factory Portadown along Joannie, Amelia & Jim

Then she met Eddie from Kernan and married at 18 and then devoted her life to her 11 fantastic children

Mary & Eddie lived in several houses before settling out at the Madden where she loved and remained until she died 

They both loved to walk and play bowls and were keen members of St John's bowling club

She was fiercely independent and remained so right up to the end. 

Her D.I.Y skills were legendary but patience not so much.....on one occasion when Eddie did not have time to fit a new window she took a sledge hammer and knocked out the wall herself leaving Eddie no choice but to finish it before nightfall

She had a love of animals and was always surrounded by cats & dogs and often adopted sick animals including hedgehogs, rabbits and even a bat

Mary was a devoted mother and grandmother with 11 children, 33 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren and was dearly loved and sorely missed by them all

Today I extend our sympathy to her loving family Anne, Dinah, Mary, Theresa, Tony, Stephen, Sean, Joe, Brendan, Chris, and Angie,

Brothers Jim and Bill,

Sons in law, daughters in law, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nephews, nieces and the entire family circle.