Scairbh

Na

gCaorach

EMYVALE

Veronica Treanor, R.I.P.

With extreme sadness I report the death of Veronica Treanor, Dernashallog, Emyvale, which occurred on Monday, July 2nd 2012 in Cavan General Hospital after a very short illness. Veronica was pre-deceased by her husband Sonny. Just a couple of weeks ago on June 10th Veronica was part of the entertainment provided at the opening of the Walkway around Emy Lake. She was there with her beloved fiddle and joined with others and played a seisiun at the lakeside. She was an accomplished violinist and loved the traditional tunes. She was also a great singer and again the old traditional songs were foremost in her expansive repertoire. Indeed she was honoured by the Tommy Makem committee in Armagh for her contribution to the Irish traditions in song, music and poetry.

Veronica will be missed terribly by her family of three sons, John, Kevin and Seamus, and three daughters, Mary, Anne and Martina, and her two brothers, Peter and Arthur. She loved being with them and them with her. However there is also a very wide circle of friends who will be devastated by her rather sudden passing. She was a great entertainer for the Senior Citizens Day Centre every Thursday in Emyvale and seldom if ever missed a day in the decades of its existence. She loved the members of the Arch Club and the Disability groups and was always willing to entertain them at their parties and gatherings. Her good friend Phine O’Neill, who accompanied her to and at all of these will miss her. She had many friends in St. Patrick’s Choir, Corracrin and joined other choirs to provide sacred music at funeral masses for others. She was a great community person and gave support to many activities in the north Monaghan region. As a neighbour there was none better as she assisted, supported and was a true friend to so many. These are only some of those who will miss her friendship, concern and support - there are many others but again her family will suffer the greatest loss. To them and to all her friends we offer our deepest sympathy.

Her remains reposed at her home until the removal to St. Patrick’s Church, Corracrin, which took place on Tuesday, July 3rd, leaving the house at 7pm to arrive at Corracrin at 7.30pm. Requiem Mass followed by burial was held at 11am on Wednesday July 4th. The huge crowds on both occasions showed how she had touched the hearts of so many from all sections of the community. Her colleagues in music attended and rendered traditional music to add to the Liturgy. Fr. Hubert was the chief celebrant with Fr. Macartan McQuaid and Fr. Sean Nolan as con-celebrants. The St. Patrick’s Choir was augmented by members of neighbouring choirs and provided the sacred music and song. Members of Veronica’s family, friends and neighbours were involved in the Liturgy and all blended to produce a touching and poignant ceremony which was truly deserved by a wonderful person. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam naofa.

Below we print the homily delivered by Fr. Hubert at the Requiem Mass and we also have recordings of some parts of the ceremony.

Homily:

‘Death is somewhere described as ‘the grim reaper’, a kind of skeletal ghost that comes to scythe us down.  But that frightening image is far from the Christian perspective on death which we treasure and celebrate in our funeral liturgy today.  Our perspective is based on Christ’s saving death and resurrection into which we are inducted at Baptism.

‘Unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies it remains a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.’ (John 12: 23 – 28)

These words of Jesus, and the image of the wheat grain falling into the soil help us to understand the mystery of life and death. In order to come to fuller life, we must constantly let go of present life. This letting go and coming to new life becomes an identifiable marker in the life of the Christian; and in the funeral homily we review the life of the deceased in search of traces of that pattern.

The eldest of three children born to Catherine and James McMeel from the parish of Errigal Truagh, Veronica’s family moved to Main Street, Emyvale.  She lived in Emyvale until her wedding day, 26 April, 1955, when she married John Treanor of Dernashallog. Together John and Veronica reared six children: John, Mary, Anne, Martina, Seamus and Kevin.  These are the broad brush strokes of her life, easy to trace but the detail and variety of her life would keep us here a long time if it were all recounted.

A gifted musician, who could pick up any tune and ‘play by ear’, a gift she used and shared with so many throughout her life.  She played professionally for a brief period with the Ken Kennedy Band of those years.  But Veronica was never in music for the money; she was much happier making music with friends and for friends. She had a series of weekly, monthly and annual events which she never missed: the north Monaghan Social Services meal in the Leisure Centre was a weekly fixture, Oriel House and Mullinahinch Nursing Homes were more recent engagements, and she has long been involved with the Arch Club in Monaghan.  

It was good to see many of her friends from Ceili Music Groups, the Arch Club and so many other music and social groups present. The Guards of Honour were impressive, so many friends and acquaintances anxious to pay their respects.   

It is hard to believe that she was at the opening of the walk around Emy Lake on Sunday, June 10th.

Veronica worked in Mullan Mills before she committed herself to fulltime home maker, as wife and mother, and indeed grandmother as her grandchildren came along.   In 1994, her husband John or Sonny as we was known died suddenly here in Corracrin one Sunday morning as Fr. Hughes was saying Mass.  A shock, a big blow, a great loss to Veronica and the family; however she found new strength and continued on; she learned to drive; and one of my abiding memories will be of her arriving for daily Mass either in the Oratory, St. Mary’s or St. Patrick’s with several neighbours whom she so kindly brought to Mass as often as possible.  I know these friends will really miss her.  We will all miss her.

That ability to adopt and take on new challenges, like learning to drive, is the thread that runs through the life that we are reviewing.  It is, I believe, the pattern of the life of faith, continual dying and rising to new life; while the overarching pattern, or the prototype, is the life death and resurrection of Christ himself. The point of our faith is that the story doesn’t end here.  I like to think of the pattern of veronica’s life continuing into deeper and deeper communion with God. I believe that those who have died and gone before us, marked with the sign of faith, bring their relationships with them; they cannot erase the memory, or forget their acquaintances; they wouldn’t want to. So by being here today, by our association with Veronica, we are all being brought more deeply into the mystery of what it means to be a Christian.  

In an age when voluntarism is on the wane, reflecting on the life of somebody like Veronica Treanor serves to underscore the value of the volunteer, and how the volunteer epitomises Christian living. Christian living means putting the needs of others before our own needs; another way of putting it is that Christian living means dying to self.   It has been said that Christians do their dying during their lifetime.   We have to die to, meaning let go of: childhood, youth, good times, good places, good health, loved ones and spouses.  All of these are little deaths.

The more we have let go, and the more we have reflected on this process of letting go, the better ready we will be for death itself.  Veronica Treanor had reflected deeply on these realities.   She could face her death honestly, with outstanding serenity and dignity, as if it was the most natural thing to happen next.  She was able to say to her family that she would be lonely leaving them, lonely leaving Dernashallog, but she assured them she was looking forward to heaven’.

Entrance

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Music Group

1st Reading

Psalm

2nd Reading

Allellulia

Gospel

Gifts

Prayers of the Faithful

Amelia Solo

Paula Solo

Reflection

Final Journey