Day: November 26, 2023

Brian McSweeney

CLARA, RINGMEEN, COBH AND LATE OF MINOR ROW, MILLSTREET

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and FIRST ANNIVERSARY

Died November 30^th 2022

As we lovingly remember Brian on his First Anniversary, his wife Liz and sons Paul, David and Kevin and extended family wish to express our sincere and heartfelt gratitude to all those who offered us such enormous support and love on our untimely and heartbreaking loss.

We offer our sincere gratitude to all those who phoned, sent messages, called to our home, sent mass cards, floral tributes and letters of support expressing their kind words about Brian.

We offer a sincere míle buíochas to the enormous amount of people who shared such lovely heartfelt messages on Rip.ie and other social media platforms about Brian. We treasure each and every one of these tributes as they reiterated what we as a family already knew and loved about him – that he was an extremely loyal and devoted friend to so many, a quiet, unassuming, humble and compassionate man, a man of absolute honour, integrity and decency. He had an amazing ability to connect with everyone he met in a uniquely personal way.  This was acknowledged in the many stories and messages which were shared with us and it is of immense comfort to know how highly so many people cherished their own personal connection with Brian.    

To everyone who attended the funeral ceremonies, and those who travelled long distances to be with us in our time of immense sorrow, we will be forever grateful for your support and kindness. To the members of both Cobh and Millstreet GAA clubs who provided Brian with such a respectful guard of honour, this is a poignant memory which will stay with us forever. We will also be eternally grateful to so many of his friends and former neighbours from Millstreet who travelled to Cobh to be with us in bidding a final farewell to their very own Kiddo. It was humbling to witness how highly regarded Brian was in his native home town.

A very special thanks to both Fr Aquin Casey and Brian’s lifelong friend Fr. Jim Kenneally for their support, sensitivity and compassion as they guided us in the beautiful celebration of Brian’s funeral mass.  We are immensely grateful to Fr Jim for capturing the essence of Brian’s life so movingly in his very personal and heartfelt homily. It was such a beautiful tribute to him.

We offer our deep appreciation also to Clair Butler who provided us with the joy of her beautiful singing voice, and to Dominic Finn for his accompaniment on the organ.

To James, Morgan and Sam of Cahill’s Funeral Directors for their professionalism, guidance, sensitivity, and for treating both Brian, and us his family, with such gentleness. We are immensely grateful to each one of you.

To the various staff members of the CUH, the Mercy Hospital and the Lee Clinic who helped care for Brian at various stages, we thank you all most sincerely.

Finally, to our group of very special close friends who have taken us into their hearts and lives during the past year, and have enveloped us with so much love and support, a mere ‘thank you’ seems so inadequate. You have propped us up, and helped us to put one foot in front of the other as we tried to navigate our way through each painful day since Brian was taken from us – by taking one step at a time. Our gratitude to each one of you knows no bounds. Brian would have been so proud to call each one of you a true friend.

As it would be impossible to detail all the varied ways so many people have helped us, not just at the time, but during this past year, please know your immense kindnesses will be forever remembered.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered for your intentions.

Brian’s First Anniversary Mass will be celebrated on Thursday 30^th November in St. Patrick’s Church Millstreet at 7.30pm and also on Saturday 2^nd December in St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh at 6pm.

Níl sa bhás ach múchadh na coinnle ag breacadh an lae.