Death of Eileen Larkin( nee King.) and Tribute to her.

I nearly dropped today when I was informed that Eileen King of Lambay was dead.Surely a mistake  I said.She is far too young.It must be someone by the same name but not the pleasant young woman with the unmistakable rouge lipstick and and tastefully applied makeup who is as pleasant a person as you would meet in a long day's walk.But I was wrong .It is her.
I hear now she was sick for a while .I don't know the details.
She was a stunner and was inseparable from her son Tom Larkin junior.
He was always by her side.And her husband Tom Larkin is devastated as are her her own siblings ,Maureen,Peter and P.J.and all her neighbours and all that knew her.
They are great friends with and close neighbours of the Mac Donaghs of Lambay and despite the age difference she was great with Mary Mac Donagh the mother of Terry ,my son in law.
I know that the Mac Donagh clan and all who knew her think the world of her and her family.
And I do too.
I have an abiding memory of her stopping to give a rather damp Jim Newman a lift in her car from Trim to Dunderry many moons ago after he had visited an abandoned cattle market in Trim after a night on the tear.She didn't bat an eyelid at his dampness.
That was her ,a great one and one of ours.
Snatched far too early from this life.
Her remains will be reposing in Heffernans on Wednesday 2 April from 3.00  p.m until 7.15 ,whence she will be removed to Kilbride Church arriving at 8.00 p.m.
Her Funeral Mass is on Thursday at 12.30 with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.
Ar Dheis DE go raibh a hAnam Dilis.

P.S.I was at the funeral Mass today.There was a massive crowd in Kilbride,the biggest I have ever seen there..Young and old, men and women.The ceremony was beautiful,both in Irish and English.People tend to forget that there is a corner of our Parish in Lambay where Irish is still the spoken language and where the people are proud of it.I am proud of it too.
Many of her friends were in tears and her husband,son and family in particular were inconsolable.She was indeed every body's friend.
As Terry Mac said"If she knew you you had no choice but to like her"
As good a tribute as you could  get.
Father Hornick ,a reserved man if there ever was one, unusually paid her the highest tribute that she was a "nice  person " and that she indeed was.And some of her female friends and neighbours paid her the ultimate compliment of wearing the chrimson lipstick and mascara she was wont to display and putting red roses into her grave.
Brought tears to a stone,God  love her.