Mourners at the funeral of the first of the two women killed in a road crash in Ballinasloe on Thursday were told that the east Co Galway town is still in shock over the double tragedy.
Deirdre Kilmartin, who is survived by her husband Kieran and her children Emma and James, was laid to rest on Monday at Creagh Cemetery in Ballinasloe following her funeral Mass at St Michael's Church.
Her good friend, Maureen Dooley, will also be laid to rest in the same cemetery on Tuesday.
The two women, who were in their 50s, were out walking on Station Road on Thursday evening; they died when they were involved in an incident involving two cars.
Hundreds of mourners were told by Fr Bernie Costello, hospital chaplain at Portiuncula and St Brigid’s, that the town and locality was still in a state of shock following the deaths of the popular women.
Fr Costello, who was joined on the altar by Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby and 12 priests, said it was hard to come to terms with the tragedy.
“Where do we start to make sense of what happened here in Ballinasloe last Thursday evening?
“When two women, two very, very good friends went out for a walk as they always did. And neither of them was to come home. Our first reaction is one of disbelief, this can’t be happening. That’s the moment your lives have been turned upside down.”
Generous
He said Mrs Kilmartin, who worked as a veterinary assistant in a local surgery, was a generous person who will be sadly missed not just by her family, but the wider community.
“Deirdre gave herself completely to her family, to her work, to all of her friends and still had time to be a volunteer driver for meals-on-wheels. That showed the calibre of Deirdre,” he said.
Mrs Kilmartin’s sister, Geraldine, said the two women were great friends and a familiar sight out walking in Ballinasloe.
“Dee loved to walk and every time I rang her it was always: ‘Oh, I have to go, I have to meet Maureen for a walk,’ or, ‘I’m just back, I went for a walk with Maureen’.
“They must have walked thousands of miles around Ballinasloe, chatting and talking and loving life and sharing stories and waving at people who passed them by.”
Mrs Kilmartin’s brother, Declan Flanagan, said she was a kind and generous person who always thought of others.
“As we planned this eulogy in the past few days my mind kept returning to a quote I read recently: ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’.”