300 people attend funeral of woman with no next-of-kin after last minute appeal

More than 300 people showed up to the funeral of a woman who had no next of kin after a last-minute appeal on Facebook.

Mary Regan, 89, had lived in Carlow, Ireland, for more than 20 years when she died on November 29 at a nursing home.

Workers at the home had noted that Mary did not have many visitors, and the passing of her husband, Fred, last year meant she had no family left.

Funeral Director Rory Healy had been worried that no one would attend Mary’s funeral and so issued a last minute appeal to make sure the Cork-born lady was not ‘sent off alone.’

Mr Healy had no idea the impact his post would have though.

He wrote on Facebook: ‘Unfortunately, since the passing of Mary’s partner just over a year ago she has had no next of kin and also didn’t have many visitors to her in the nursing home.

‘Mary lived in Carlow happily for a number of years and will tomorrow return to her native West Cork to be laid to rest with members of her family that have gone before her.

‘if you can spare 45mins tomorrow to attend Mass it would be great to see that a lady who lived to be nearly 90 years will get a farewell from her adopted town of Carlow by the people of Carlow.’

And she certainly did get a farewell – with more than 300 people attending the funeral on Friday morning.

Mr Healy told the Irish Independent he was ‘overwhelmed’ by the response to his post.

He said: ‘To put it in context, there is morning mass at that time every morning in Askea Church with probably 40 or 50 people in attendance.

‘But this morning, I would say there was over 300 people there. There was also a class from the local Presentation College and people from all walks of life.

‘When I walked into the church and saw what was there waiting for poor Mary, my heart filled up. I didn’t expect to see that number of people, I thought maybe a dozen people would show because I only made the appeal late last night.

‘It certainly restored my faith in humanity.’

The Irish community in Carlow were similarly blown away by the response, with many taking to social media to laud the efforts of the community.

Maureen Sullivan wrote: ‘Lovely turn out and a lovely fare well sending her home to Cor. It gives you hope in humanity.’

Tina Fennelly added: ‘What a lovely thing to do, so glad Mary got a great send off from the people of Carlow. RIP.’

And Frances Byrne commented; ‘The funeral was packed. Well done to everyone for having such a king heart, and again, well done to Rory Healy for highlighting. Rest in peace Mary.’

Mary’s body is set to be brought to her native west Cork for burial at St Fachtna’s Church.

She was predeceased by her four siblings and her husband.

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