MOURNERS at the funeral of Boho man Kieran Curley, who could put his hand to anything and was loved by all who knew him, have been warned of the heart-breaking dangers of addiction.
There was profound shock and sadness in Boho and far beyond after Mr Curley’s body was found in a van on the Samsonagh Road on August 17. Since then there has been an outpouring of love and grief for the popular tradesman.
Born in 1959, Kieran married Geraldine Quinn in 1979 and they went on to have two children, Ciara and Gary, and two grandchildren, Amelia and Lauren. At his funeral in at the Sacred Heart Church in Boho last Friday, those who gathered to say goodbye and the many, many more who watched online heard how the family “all loved each other very much.”
Concelebrated by Fr Seamus Quinn and Kieran’s good friend Fr Gary Donegan, in his homily Fr Quinn recalled a highly skilled and talented man who was much loved in the community.
Fr Quinn said Kieran had “a highly developed gift of building things with his hands” and one of the last things he and Geraldine had done together was build a very impressive music room in the family home. He spoke of Kieran’s love of music, and paid tribute to the wider “musical family” who had come to pay their respects in the days leading up to the funeral.
Fr Quinn also spoke of Kieran’s love of animals, noting his cows were pets not livestock, and his love of sport, particularly boxing and running.
Clearly a renaissance man, with many strings to his bow, Fr Quinn there was “very little Kieran couldn’t tackle if he put his mind to it” and he was “one of the nicest human beings you could ever wish to meet” who would “chat to anybody and everybody” and who “just loved people.”
Outlining how he was a dedicated man of faith who prayed and took part in Mass, Fr Quinn added that Kieran had suffered from health issues in his life, such as a serious back complainant.
Fr Quinn then went on to speak of how, in all of us, there is always an “emptiness” based on a spiritual “longing to return to our eternal home”, before going on to outline the ethos behind the ‘12 steps’ employed by Alcoholic Anonymous in which people give themselves over to a higher power in order to escape addiction.
“Those who knew and loved Kieran best agree it was an addiction that brought his life to such and untimely and sad end,” said Fr Quinn, adding it was a result of his addiction that “took him to the place and situation he was in” and that the Curley family wished to spread the message of the dangers of addiction.
“It was addiction that meant he failed to wake up,” said the priest, who once again spoke of how Kieran was “a lovely man who went out of his way to help anyone.”
“The spirit of God lived within him,” he said. “Everyone only had anything good to say about him.”
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