‘Happy-go-lucky’ and ‘adored’ Jimmy McKenna is laid to rest in Buncrana

Saint Mary’s Oratory in Buncrana was overflowing with mourners on Wednesday morning for the Requiem Mass of the 25-year-old, who sadly died after being struck by a car in Moville in the early hours of Sunday morning, June 9.

Chief celebrant, Buncrana Parish Priest Father Francis Bradley, told those gathered how Jimmy’s family ‘adored’ him and described him as the ‘life and soul of the party’.

Fr Bradley expressed his condolences and those of the local community to Jimmy’s parents, James and Michelle, his brother John Paul, his sisters Catherine and Caroline, brothers-in-law Kevin and Seamus, his granny Margret Reidy, his nieces Kate and Erin, his extended family and many friends.

Prayers were also offered for the first responders and emergency services, along with all those who were with Jimmy on Sunday morning, including his friend, Ben.

Due to them and also Jesus, said Father Bradley, Jimmy was ‘never alone’.

"That was important, because, when all is said and done, Jimmy liked company.”

The Offertory Gifts, representing Jimmy and his life, included his Celtic top, ‘as he was an ardent supporter,’ his car keys and Miraculous Medal and a family picture.

Jimmy, said Father Bradley, was born on August 22, 1998, ‘the Feast Day of ‘Our Lady Queen and Mother,’ weighing in at 13lbs – ‘ a bruiser, you could say’ - but, he added, ‘there was a strange gentleness to him, all of his own’.

He was ‘calm under fire’ and ‘his parents and family adored him.’

"His Godparents and grandparents idolised him, children were just drawn to him and his racy car. He was the life and soul of the party.”

There was, too, said Fr Bradley ‘a fragility’ in Jimmy, which ‘maybe was his greatest strength’.

"That’s where is magnetism lay. For, with his happy-go-lucky nature, you couldn’t help by like, even love, Jimmy McKenna’.

His parents ‘spoiled him rotten,’ mourners heard and he would often go to school with ‘three dummies in his pocket’.

“All’ he ever wanted to do was drive and he ‘loved’ his work in the creche and Montessori.

Jimmy was the one who collected the children from school, in his ‘souped up Volkswagon Golf,’ which they just ‘loved,’ said Father Bradley.

He also loved the children, who will miss him.

"They will miss him immensely, they’ll miss his company, his joy and his fun.”

“In many ways, he never outgrew his childhood, which is why they loved him even more – he was one of themselves.”

Father Bradley also outlined how life ‘wasn’t all plain sailing’ for Jimmy, and the tragic deaths of two of his friends in 2017 ‘never really left him’.

The injuries and trauma that Jimmy also ‘endured on that day and each day since were never too far away’, mourners heard.

Since then, Fr Bradley said, there was ‘now an added tender spot, a vulnerability, which had consequences good and bad in his life’.

The death of his Godmother four years ago also devastated him, but, outlined Fr Bradley, ‘of late it would appear he was putting himself and his life together better again’.

‘Generous’ Jimmy also ‘loved to cook’ and ‘this helped with the fitness regime he’d embarked on’.

Mourners were also told how, eight months ago, Jimmy began wearing a Miraculous Medal for protection and had a ‘huge tattoo of Our Lady emblazoned on his shoulder,’ with the date of the death of his Godmother, Imelda, ‘written into its hem’.

Jimmy also loved to travel, but ‘might come home again a day or two early,’ said Fr Bradley.

"We pray now his travels are over and he can rest forever in the merciful gaze of God, his eternal Father.

"He woke up started one time, in Limavady, not knowing how he got there, but wanting to get home. We now pray he will soon awaken in Heaven and see the familiar faces of those he loved and who loved him so.”

Father Bradley concluded by stating that, as he did on the roadside of Moville in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Feast of Saint Colmcille, he would now pray over Jimmy the words of Saint Colmcille, reflecting on life and death.

He read the words of ‘Alone with None by thee my God’.

Alone with none but thee, my God,I journey on my way:What need I fear when thou art near,O King of night and day?More safe am I within thy handThan if a host did round me stand.My destined time is fixed by thee,And death doth know its hour;Did warriors strong around me throng,They could not stay its power:No walls of stone can man defendWhen thou thy messenger dost send. My life I yield to thy decree,And bow to thy controlIn peaceful calm, for from thine armNo power can wrest my soul:Could earthly omens e’er appalThe one who heeds the heavenly call?The child of God can fear no ill,His chosen, dread no foe;We leave our fate with thee, and waitThy bidding when to go:’Tis not from chance our comfort springs,Thou art our trust, O King of kings.

May Jimmy rest in peace.

Following Requiem Mass, Jimmy was laid to rest in Cockhill Cemetery.