"It is over now. His hands no longer reach out to mine as they did when, sitting by the turf fire in the evenings, we would listen to our favourite music. His goodnight smile and kiss upon my head are but memories.
"Yet I hear his gentle voice still, talk with him still. I feel his presence, but there is no consolation. It would probably surprise some people to know that Noel had a most loving, romantic side to his character."
The words of the late Phyllis Browne, as read by Labour Party president Michael D Higgins at the weekend, when a cut-stone bench in memory of her and her late husband, Dr Noel Browne, was unveiled at Clochmor graveyard, south Connemara.
"If a cemetery can be a beautiful place, Clochmor is one. It is such a fitting tribute that this is something that everyone can use and share," Susan Browne, daughter of the couple, said, as she paid tribute to the friends involved in the project.
Accompanying her at the memorial was her son Ruairí and daughter-in-law, Áine.
After the death of the former health minister in May 1997, his widow called almost every day to her neighbours, Garda Pat O'Connor and his wife, Annette, at Indreabhan until her death a year ago at the age of 86. "They were wonderful to my parents, to my mother after my father's death, and now they have initiated this," Ms Browne said.
Garda O'Connor, now retired, said, "Well, Phyllis would go back to Noel's grave, and she would spend time there but she had nowhere to sit. So Annette and some friends decided this would be a good idea. And I think Noel would like the fact that this bench is already full of history, because the limestone came from a former Lady Gregory home at Roxborough house," he noted.
Designed by Denis Goggin and Reamonn Ó Flaithearta, the bench of limestone and inscribed Connemara marble overlooks the Aran islands and the Atlantic. "Those who sit here and reflect will be making a testament that an ethical view, or a radical dream of equality, does not end with one's physical passing," Mr Higgins said.
The bench was funded by private contributions, and was blessed in bright sunshine at Clochmor cemetery by retired archdeacon Anthony Previte.
The occasion was celebrated with music, including Goldsmith's Lament, played by fiddler Frankie Gavin and a box set by Kitty Noonan.
