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

Reflecting on his father’s life at his funeral mass in St. Eugene’s Cathedral, John Hume Jr. spoke of his ‘deep roots of neighbourhood and community’.

“If Dad were here today in the fullness of his health, witnessing the current tensions in the world, he wouldn’t waste the opportunity to say a few words.

“He’d talk about our common humanity, the need to respect diversity and difference, to protect and deepen democracy, to value education, and to place nonviolence at the absolute centre.

“He might also stress the right to a living wage and a roof over your head, to decent healthcare and education,” John Jr said.

The youngest son of John and Pat Hume told the congregation that his father was a “Derryman to his core, and those deep roots of neighbourhood and community served to nourish him through the difficult years.

“From the beginning, the European Union was like a homecoming to him, bringing together diverse cultures in an interdependent relationship, allowing for unique identities while also holding a bigger picture of unified kinship.

He added: “At this time of planetary fragility, more than ever, he would be urging that we move beyond our flag-based identities, and recognise the need to protect our common home.”

John Jr. also spoke of his father’s ailing health in recent years and how during this time the ‘kindness’ of the people of Derry and Donegal was a ‘profound gift to us all’.

“In the last years of dad’s life, his physical and mental health became more visibly vulnerable.

“And yet in those recent years, more than ever, we as a family witnessed the absolute importance of dad’s core ethos, of building community based on respect and love.

“The kindness shown to him by the people of Derry and Donegal, who stopped to talk to him in the street every day, guided him to protect his independence, and received him with gentleness if he was agitated, was a profound gift to all of us. We are eternally grateful to all those that helped over the years.”

He paid tribute to the care provided to his father by Owen Mor nursing home in the last years of his life and during the Coronavirus lockdown, when his family were unable to be with him.

“In these last two years, when he’d lost his mobility and eyesight, he moved to Owen Mor nursing home.

“In this, his last home, and it was a home, all of us as a family were made welcome, and became part of a new community of families and carers.

“The deep attention and love shown to dad and to the many friends he made among carers, residents and their families, will remain a lesson to us for the rest of our lives.”

He said that this care allowed his father to “retain his dignity, individuality and his magnificent strength of character, despite his overwhelming disabilities.

“It allowed him to overcome.”

John Jr. described the carers’ work as ‘incredible and heroic’.

“If he were here, he would urge us to look at those young carers and the incredible and heroic daily work they do as a model for future leadership - their ethos of deep respect, a respect for everyone regardless of where they come from or stage of life.

“These are the foundation stones that are critical to all communities.”

John Jr. told the congregation John Hume was a husband, a father and a “man who loved and cared for his family at all times.”

He said that marrying his mother, Pat, was “without a doubt Dad’s greatest achievement and she enabled him to reach his full potential.”

“Our mum, who loved, supported and guided him throughout his tireless work for peace, and later in his frailty, was his greatest blessing.”

John Jr. said that along with their mother Pat, his father taught his family “all our values and gave us all our moral compass. And for that we will be forever in their debt.”

“As a family we will remember the man who was rooted in his community, a man who was most comfortable sitting in front of the TV, with half a dozen Crunchie bars to keep him company, and his family around him. Or the odd time holding court around the corner in the Park Bar.

“A man who ordered the same dinner in the same restaurants in Strasbourg and Greencastle for 25 years. I’m sure he’s up there now ordering his crème brulee and that awful sweet wine he loved.

“A man who loved Derry at its best, be that promoting the Candystripes across the world or the many choirs that he brought from here to Europe to sing in Brussels and Strasbourg.

“A man who didn’t need to be invited twice to lift a mic himself, and give us a blast of the Town I Love So Well or Ma Hyland, and many, many, many, more besides.

“A man who truly believed in Derry and the talents of our people, and became our greatest Ambassador to the world.”

John Jr concluded his reflection by thanking his father “for a life well lived.”