Remembering Bryan Walsh

Month’s mind takes place in Letterkenny on Saturday for Bryan Walsh, Portmarnock, Dublin, and formerly of Rathdonnell, Letterkenny

YOU laid in state on the longest day.

And each and every day since June 21st has been long without your presence in it.

There was still a sense of disbelief that you were gone as we approached Stafford’s Funeral Home in Portmarnock.

But there in the lobby your name on the electronic board on the wall left us in no doubt. Bryan Walsh, Reposing Room number three.

Surely there had to be a mistake.

A young man of 38 years lying in a wicker coffin while we filed past and found no words of true comfort as we embraced the chief mourners.

And on a screen projection behind, the proof of that all too short life and of a personality pictured in every frame – that mischievous smile and wicked sense of humour shining through.

A photographic album lovingly put together and featuring so many aspects of your life. You and your beloved wife, Aoife, captured with beaming smiles at the Aviva Stadium, and holding your cherished daughter. Ellie.

And your early home life with your devoted parents, John and Eileen, and siblings, Michael, Leanne and Caron. And so many more that brought some crumbs of comfort as we looked at them.

But, at those moments in time, only some.

You had originally been diagnosed with a brain tumour seven years previously but had fought the fight and soldiered on.

And you were a valued and popular employee in the I.T. department of the E.S.B. – as evident by the many colleagues who turned up to show their respects and share in the sorrow at Staffords Funeral Home and at the funeral service at Glasnevin Crematorium.

Bryan James Walsh had entered this life on December 19th, 1985, just a month after his grandfather, Brian, had passed away. He would have been so proud of his grandchild.

Bryan’s friends and neighbours in Glencar Park, Solomon’s Hills and John and Eileen’s current abode in Rathdonnell, Letterkenny, got to know a lively and playful child who invariably had a smile on his face.

And a prank or ten up his sleeve (or on Caron’s sleeves as Michael recalled at the funeral service)!

National and Secondary schools underlined that popularity and his academic ability shone through.

He brought that to Dublin where he took up employment and made more friends. And nobody more important than the woman who became the love of his life.

Fittingly enough for a man who loved sport – Arsenal F.C. being his club of choice – they met in Becky Morgan’s pub following an Ireland/Italy Six Nations match.

There may be one or two people around claiming they introduced them to one another but the fact is they fell for each other almost immediately.

A true love story so appropriate enough that last year Becky Morgan’s Pub became ‘The Storyteller’ after changing hands.

Bryan and Aoife’s story and love continued through the years following his diagnosis – her job as an oncology nurse enabling her to keep alert to the signs.

And in the months and weeks before his passing, the signs and his health deteriorated badly and the three months of lifetime predicted by his medical team turned into weeks and finally hours until on Tuesday June 18th he succumbed – his parents, John and Eileen posting the devastating news on a family WhatsApp site with the briefest and most heart wrenching of messages: ‘OUR BABY BOY R.I.P.”

The inevitability of it didn’t prevent the tears – the anguish continuing over the next few days at the funeral home and the funeral service itself.

There in front of a huge number of family, friends, colleagues and others who had made the trip from Donegal and Mayo (Bryan’s other adopted county where he had spent so many happy summers with his uncles and cousins and learned how to play pranks!) Aoife spoke movingly about her husband’s battle and how Bryan had spoken of “disappointment after disappointment” as the respective treatment failed to respond.

Flanked by her beloved brother, Eoin, she recalled Bryan and herself’s initial meeting and life together before and after the diagnosis.

A few short days before he passed they had gone away together where they told each other what they meant to one another and shared a glass of wine and reflections on their time together.

It had, said Aoife, been a privilege to know him and to love him and she spoke of how she and Ellie would now have to go on without him.

Bryan’s elder brother, Michael, also addressed the attendance pointing out that he tried to think of an opening joke to make the celebration of his life what he would have wanted.

“But the more I wracked my brains trying to think of a joke that Bryan would appreciate – he had a great sense of humour – the more I realised it was Bryan’s last joke – one social introvert trying to talk about another!”

Thanking all who had travelled for the funeral service, he said: ‘Anyone who was lucky enough to have come across him in their lives knew there was something very special about him.”

Describing his brother as a “naturally gifted guy”, Michael described how amazing Aoife had been during the years of treatment along with her family.

“Mum and dad, thank you for giving us Bryan. He was taken away from us far too early but he will live forever in our hearts.”

Before the curtains drew on an all too young life, the service conductor introduced some of the songs that meant so much to Aoife and Bryan including their wedding song, Bell X1’s ‘The End is Nigh’; Sinead O’Connor’s ‘She Moved Thru’ the Fair’; and a haunting version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’

Grief, they say, is the price of love and all the grief we felt was a true indication of all the love we had for you, Bryan. Rest in peace.
P.M.W.

A month’s mass commemorating Bryan Walsh will be held in St. Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny this Saturday (July 20) commencing at 10am.

Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere