Derry says thanks as a mighty oak falls

Yet coronavirus and the deeply responsible attitude of the Hume family meant it was necessarily limited in the interests of public health.

The people of Ireland were there in President Michael D. Higgins, and the citizens of Derry, in Mayor Brian Tierney. The Taoiseach Micheál Martin, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, First and Deputy First Ministers Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill, and Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State, all paid their respects too.

But in any other circumstance dignitaries would have flown in from across the world to pay their final respects to John Hume, Derryman, and ‘Ireland’s Greatest’.

IN PICTURES: Funeral of peace maker John Hume in Derry 05.08.20 R.I.P.

Limited though it had to be there was a poignancy to the intimate family reflection on an extraordinary life.

Chief among the mourners were John’s wife Pat, his daughters, Thérèse, Áine and Mo, and his son John, while his other son Aidan was sadly unable to attend from Boston due to the COVID-19 emergency.

The skies opened in sympathy as they made their way from the Bishop’s House to the Cathedral for their beloved husband and father’s Requiem Mass just before 11.30 a.m on Wednesday.

John had lain in repose since his removal on Tuesday. His wicker casket was covered with a simple white pall adorned with a cross. His loved ones took their seats in the pews opposite a smiling portrait of the statesman illuminated by banks of candles.

The service opened to the strains of ‘Be Still My Soul,’ sung by Derry soloist Anne Marie Hickey. It set the tone for a moving service concelebrated by Fr. Paul Farren, Fr. Dinny McGettigan and Bishop Dónal McKeown, and attended by Archbishops Eamon Martin and John McDowell, and the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Andrew Forster.

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For the political titan there were condolences from Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama and Bono. There were Prayers of the Faithful, read by his grandchildren Dee, Rachel, Aoibhe and Úna, and a poem, written by his absent son Aidan and read by his daughter Mo, for the devoted father and doting grandfather.

An address by John’s youngest son John Hume Jnr. provoked smiles and tears. People laughed when he spoke of his father’s sweet tooth.

“He kept the Irish chocolate industry in healthy profits for many years. Yorkies, Crunchies, Crème Eggs, Double Deckers, Wispas, you name it, he loved them all. We found it odd, how a man with the intelligence to win a Nobel Prize could seriously believe that Crunchies were less fattening because they are full of air,” his son joked.

They were deeply moved by recollections of John Hume, the family man. “Dad was also a father, a husband and a man who loved and cared for his family at all times. Marrying Pat Hone, our mother, was without a doubt Dad’s greatest achievement and she enabled him to reach his full potential.”

And they cried when John Jr. choked back tears: “Dad would urge us to listen, so that in spite of it all; we shall overcome. Thank you Dad for a life well lived.”

My father was a ‘Derryman to his core’ - John Hume Jr

In his homily Fr. Paul Farren acknowledged John’s widow Pat had been the key partner in all he had achieved as a public figure. “Pat encircled John with love, compassion and support and it was your presence that made his work possible. When the history of Ireland is written, if Pat Hume’s name is not beside John’s it will be an incomplete history,” he said.

Bishop Dónal McKeown observed how John put theory into praxis.

“As John Hume knew, living means participating, not just observing,” he said.

At the end of the service John’s friend and contemporary Phil Coulter played ‘The Town I Loved so Well’, a song he had been fond of airing from time to time.

Shortly before 1 o’clock John’s simple wicker casket, decorated only with a crucifix, was borne out of the cathedral by his family. He was carried waist high to the hearse next to the tombs of Bishops Edward Daly and Neil Farren.

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Pat, comforted by her daughters and grandchildren, watched as John’s remains were placed in the vehicle. Spontaneous applause broke out from Windsor Terrace where people had gathered to pay their respects.

John’s daughter Dr. Aine Abbott acknowledged the gesture with applause of her own. Someone shouted ‘thanks John’, in gratitude for all he had done during a remarkable career as a teacher, cooperativist and politician.

When he left the grounds of St. Eugene’s for the last time, Creggan Street was lined. Some followed the cortege and people were at their doors in Marlborough, Beechwood, Laburnum and the Lonemoor to say goodbye to one of their own.

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His final journey took him not far from Rosemount Primary School, where his life’s adventure began. A few hundred metres down to the left was the Credit Union, which he established in 1960, providing a source of finance for ordinary families that remains a lifeline to this day.

Immediately to the right as the hearse paused at the top of Westland was West End Park, the place he called home for most of his life. All around were the streets of the Bogside with which his name will forever be associated. For Derry, Ireland and the wider world a mighty oak has fallen.

“Dad was a Derryman to his core, and those deep roots of neighbourhood and community served to nourish him through the difficult years,” as his son said.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. We will not see his like again.