The funeral of Vanessa Whyte and her children James and Sara Rutledge has been taking place in Co Clare this afternoon. The service has been a loving celebration of their lives.
Forty-five-year-old Vanessa, 14-year-old James and 13-year-old Sara died after being shot at their hone on the Drummeer Road outside Maguiresbridge on July 23.
A heartbreaking Service of Removal took place in Maguiresbridge on Wednesday, where those who knew and loved the family here in Fermanagh had their chance to say goodbye. Just like in Maguiresbridge on Wednesday, today mourners at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Vanessa’s native village of Barefield had again been asked to “wear bright and cheerful colours in their memory” for their funeral service.
Among those present at today’s service are Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher Ian Ellis, who is chair of the board of governors of Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, which James and Sara attended, as well as many family and friends for Fermanagh who travelled to Clare for the service.
Balloons, photographs, GAA colours and other symobols of the bright, full lives the mother and young teenagers had lived have filled the church. Among them are a blue card and cattle tags to symbolise Vanessa’s life as a vet; a hurley to representing James’ deep love of GAA; and a cat as a tribute to Sara’s love for animals and her gentle presence.
The funeral service – which is taking place in the same church Vanessa, James and Sara were all baptised in – was opened with loving, touching, and often humorous tributes to their lives, drawing both laughs and tears.
The harrowing tragedy of their deaths was also laid bare, however, with mourners told Vanessa’s next trip to Clare was meant to be to meet her new nephew, and James and Sara to meet their new cousin. Instead, their lives had been cruelly cut short, with the family stating their only comfort is that Vanessa, James and Sara are together and “finally safe.”