Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Monday, October 12, 2009

Keep Striving for Peace in Northern Ireland


Here are a couple of links from Irish Central with information on the ongoing efforts to keep and build on the peace in Northern Ireland.



http://url4t.com/MEO

http://url4t.com/t0h

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Rest in Peace - Cousin Pat


Today I attended the funeral services for my cousin Pat Gavin, he was brought back into my life a year and half ago by our cousin Sharon. She is in Germany and couldn't attend the services. These are the words she sent me to share with Pat's wife Judy and the family.

In just one moment our lives can change forever…

Ours did when Auntie Maggie in Ireland ask that we find her Sister’s families that had moved to America in the 1920’s…
In finding our Cousins we found more than just our family; we found a friendship and a kinship that has spanned the many miles between us.

And here we are in another ‘moment’; a bittersweet moment in that we are so very thankful for having known Pat, albeit for such a short time, but also so very sad that we didn’t get to share any more precious memories or indeed make many more…

Our International family in Ireland, England, Germany & Australia, joins you in mourning the passing of Pat.

We also join you in celebrating the life of Pat and would like you all to know that thanks to Pat’s generosity of spirit he will always be remembered as the cousin who held the key to our past! Pat opened up a whole new world to us in sharing precious family photo’s that none of us had previously seen; this will be his legacy to our International family…

Rest in Peace Pat.x

Cousin Sharon Burton

After Glow…

I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one…
I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done…
I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways, of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days…
I’d like the tears of those who grieve to dry before the sun, of happy memories that I leave now that my life is done…



Pat’s Aunt Maggie O’Donnell is having a mass said for Pat in Foxford, County Mayo this week

Pat’s Cousin Marie Quinn is having a mass said for Pat in Attymass, County Mayo in the same church where Pat’s Mother Mary (O'dDonnell) Gavin attended as a child.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Rest in Peace - Cousin Pat Gavin Goodbye My Friend and Cousin

Today I discovered my Cousin Pat Gavin passed away in his sleep after a long battle with cancer. I was seven years old when our families fell out and we lost contact with each other. Over a year ago we found each other and came back into each other's lives. I celebrated his 70th birthday and danced an Irish Jig with him and his brother and my other cousin Jim. We spent time with each other and he and his beautiful wife Judy welcomed my family into their family. The time was too short we spent together but I feel blessed to have been reunited with him. He was a great guy and great cousin. he will be missed and loved by all who knew him, family and friends.
Rest in Peace Cousin Pat and I hope your are in Heaven dancing up a mean Irish Jig.