Large crowds turned out at funeral ceremonies yesterday for two of the five victims of the Dublin bus crash. A Mass for Mr Vasyl Tyminskyy was celebrated in a church near his home in Lucan. He will be buried in the Ukraine later this week.
Mr Tyminskyy was one of the five people killed in the Dublin Bus tragedy at Wellington Quay on Saturday. His was the first of the five funerals to be held this week.
In Leixlip up to 1,000 people were present in St Charles Borromeo Church as the remains of Mr Kevin Garry were received. Mourners were told that Mr Garry, a worker in a Salvation Army hostel in Dublin city centre, was a man who did not parade his good deeds in public.
Among those in attendance in Leixlip were the managing director of Dublin Bus, Dr Alan Westwell, its operations manager, Mr Mick Matthews, and human resources manager Mr Gerry Maguire. In a dreadful irony, the number 66a bus was stopped in heavy traffic directly opposite the church as the hearse carrying the coffin turned in the gate.
Father Philip Corcoran said Mr Garry had bravely overcome injuries in a previous bus accident and went on to help those less fortunate than himself. He said Mr Garry would be missed by all who knew him.Mourners filed slowly from the packed church and others queued to commiserate with Mr Garry's family, including his sisters Olive, Mary and Josephine, and his brother Enda.
At the Mass in Lucan 11-year-old Khrystyna Tyminskyy thanked God for her "darling dad" and the love he gave to herself and her mother. Reading one of the prayers of the faithful, Khrystyna said she was thankful for the happy times she shared with her father. "We will always remember him with love," she told the congregation in St Mary's Church.
Although the 33-year-old Ukrainian had been living in Ireland only three years with his wife Svitlana and their daughter, the church was thronged with friends, neighbours and workmates from the Lucan community.
Mr Tyminskyy had come to work in Ireland, "to do everything he could for his wife and child", Father Philip Bradley, curate of St Mary's said. "What could be more pleasing than this to the Lord?" The people of Lucan had gathered to reach out and offer a helping hand to Svitlana and Khrystyna in this time of tragedy and great sorrow, he said. "We must hold them as best we can, conscious that nothing can replace the dad and husband they have lost."
In a way it was fitting the funeral was held on Ash Wednesday. "A day we proclaim that our bodies are not that important, that from dust we came and unto dust we will return. A different phrase we could use is that I am much more than my body. In a very strong sense we gather here to say Vasyl's body is dead, but he is alive."
Father Bradley called for the congregation to remember the others who had died or were injured in the crash.
Mrs Tyminskyy lit candles at the altar in memory of her husband, while fifth-class pupils from the adjoining national school, Clochar Scoil Mhuire, joined their classmate Khrystyna in the prayers of the faithful.
Prayers were said for the two bus drivers involved in the crash and for all bus drivers "who have our lives in their hands". Prayers were also said for the members of the emergency services who attended the scene of the accident.
The chairman of CIÉ, Dr John Lynch, attended the funeral as did five senior Dublin Bus officials. Three company liaison officers who have been working closely with the family were also present.