THERE WERE scenes of great emotion at the weekend as the victims who were tragically killed in a recent house fire in Clohass were laid to rest.
Philomena O’Rourke (84) was killed along with nine-year-old Gabriela Glorija Gruznova when an inferno raged through her home shortly after midnight on September 14.
Mrs. O’Rourke had been babysitting young Gabriela while her son Aidan and the girl’s mother Zane Sutra went for a meal in Enniscorthy.
When the pair returned to the house at around 12.20 a.m, which is situated five kilometres from the town, they spotted the blaze and a panicked Mr. O’Rourke attempted to get inside to save his mother and the child. Sadly, he was too late.
St. Brigid’s Church in Tomacork was overflowing on Friday as friends, neighbours and loved ones gathered to bid a final goodbye to Mrs. O’Rourke.
Government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe and Mick Wallace T.D also attended the Mass.
In his homily, Fr. Denis Browne said the congregation would also remember Gabriela, who was cremated at a family service in Dublin, in their prayers.
Mrs. O’Rourke, who lived in Clohass House since 1965, was laid to rest beside her late husband James (Jim), who passed away almost 17 years ago.
Born Philomena Scanlon, she was a native of Ballinasloe in CountyGalway before moving to Carnew in the foothills of the WicklowMountains in the 1950s.
She began teaching in Ballyellis national school, succeeding her mother Hannah Scanlon in front of the blackboard, and then married James O’Rourke, a well-known business man in the Carnew area.
Little Gabriela’s family is originally from Latvia but has been living in Gorey for the past number of years. The nine-year-old was a popular third-class pupil in St. Mary’s NationalSchool in Enniscorthy, with Principal Margaret Jacob describing her as “lovely, bright and vivacious.”
“I ask of one thing today,” Fr. Browne said at Mrs. O’Rourke’s FuneralMass. “Let us not remember how poor Philomena and Gabriela died, but I ask you to remember how they lived.
“We gather today to remember our sister Philomena, and we also remember Gabriela, with the hope our faith gives us that they have gone to better things,” Fr. Browne said.
[For full story, see this week’s Echo]