THERE were tearful scenes at St Crona’s Church in Dungloe this morning as popular schoolteacher Dawn Croke was laid to rest.
Ms Croke died on Thursday evening after being struck by a vehicle in a freak accident in the grounds of St Crona’s National School. It is understood the Rosses Community School teacher took the brunt of the moving Jeep after rushing to rescue a child who was in the vehicle’s path.
Mourners spilled out on to the rain-dampened steps of St Crona’s to hear the mother-of-two described as a “pleasant, outgoing, happy person” and an “extraordinary woman”.
The late Dawn Croke.
“I know I speak for everyone in this chapel today when I say that I would rather be anywhere else than here with you saying goodbye to Dawn,” Fr Pat Ward told the Croke family.
“We would rather she was getting up for her work, organising her day for those in her charge. We would rather she was planning her holidays and adventures with Callum and Jason. We would rather she was checking with her friends to see what the craic would be over the next few weeks.”
Among those in attendance at the funeral Mass was President Michael D Higgins’s Aide de Campe Captain Paul O’Donnell and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s representative, Commandant Caroline Burke.
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