Mourners at the funeral of a Lurgan couple who passed away just 24 hours apart heard of a love that “never diminished”.
Owen ‘Owenie’ Callaghan and his beloved wife Patricia each died peacefully at their Tarry Drive home, with Owenie on June 29 and Patricia on June 30.
They were the much loved father and mother of Martin, Owen, Manuel, Michael, Margaret and Jackson, as well as a beloved father-in-law and mother-in-law of Karen, Joanne, Monica, Rose, Mark and Shirley, and a loving granda, granny, great granda and great granny.
Family and friends entered St Peter’s Church, Lurgan for Requiem Mass to the sound of bagpipes.
Beneath a photo of couple on their wedding day their coffins were laid side by side.
Related: The death has occurred of Owenie and Patricia Callaghan (Lurgan)
Canon Liam Stevenson led the Mass for the devoted husband and wife, who had lived side by side for 62 years, and who were laid to rest side by side in St Coleman’s cemetery.
Acknowledging the pain of losing a loved one, Canon Stevenson spoke of a “tsunami of grief, sorrow and incredulity” and the “mind boggling” grief of loosing two in one weekend.
Speaking of their youth the priest drew parallels between their lives. While Owenie grew up in Belfast and Patricia, in Lurgan, they both left school at age 14.
In 1962, he said Owenie “hitched a lift” from Belfast to Lurgan to attend a dance where he met Patricia and thus began their lives together.
The couple went on to have six children that they raised with ‘skillful hands’, skillful hands that were also put to use by Owenie as a taxi driver in Lurgan and Belfast and Patricia as a seamstress and talented crocheter.
In tribute to Patricia’s incredible skill, one of her beautifully stitched quilts had been brought to the service with Canon Stevenson explaining how each family member had been gifted one to cherish over the years.
Referencing a reading of scripture from Ecclesiastes 3: 1 – 8 Canon Stevenson encouraged the family – who he regarded as a “tight-knit family, a unit of love and loyalty” to “temper their sadness” by recalling happier times; of wedding and births that Owenie and Patricia would have rejoiced in.
He spoke of a love and togetherness that never diminished. As Patricia’s health sadly deteriorated in recent weeks, the priest told mourners of how Owenie would visit her each night at her bedside to say the prayer of St Martin.
He prayed for their two souls to be one with the good Lord in Heaven.
Following the service Owenie and Patricia Callaghan were to be laid to rest at St Coleman’s cemetery.
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