Deirdre Purcell funeral: ‘The suddenness of her death was particularly cruel’

The funeral Mass of Deirdre Purcell (77) on Thursday was told that her sudden death this week has left her family bereft. An actor, writer and broadcaster, she died on Monday in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, having taken ill at her home in Mornington, Co Meath.

Her husband Kevin Healy said: “We are all devastated by Deirdre’s death. The suddenness of it all was particularly cruel for her broken-hearted family and friends but I have some consolation in that I know that she did not suffer and that I was with her when her heart stopped beating. My unopened Valentine card to her states on the front ‘Life is such an adventure with you by my side’.”

Speaking at the end of her funeral Mass at Our Lady of Victories Church on Dublin’s Ballymun Road, he recalled how “at a quarter to five on Monday morning Deirdre went downstairs to get Panadol. She said she had a headache. A short time later I found her lying unconscious on the floor of our downstairs bathroom. She died in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda without regaining consciousness at 20 past eight. On the previous evening we had been talking about a holiday.”

She was “our rock - she was the glue that held our little family together and we are now cast adrift and we are bereft,” he said.

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He thanked all the people who had been in touch with him since she died but paid special tribute to and thanked the ambulance personnel “who came to my house and brought Deirdre to hospital and the wonderful doctors and nurses at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. Their courtesy, care, and professionalism made what was unbearable seem to be bearable. I am enormously grateful for the absolute care and dignity they afforded Deirdre in her final hours in this world that she loved so much and for the invaluable support that they gave me also.”

[ Deirdre Purcell, popular novelist and broadcaster, dies at 77 ]

Son Adrian Weckler also spoke of the family’s shock. “We just can’t believe it,” he said. For him his mother’s greatest quality was compassion. “With the possible exception of Donald Trump my mother was predisposed to seeing redemption and humanity in everyone, everyone. She would have made a terrible juror for a prosecutor,” he said.

“She believed everyone was unique, talented and beautiful ... this compassion was the bedrock for a great many of her friendships.” It meant “she managed to find some of the nicest, most interesting people around and they found her,” he said.

“But the person she loved maybe more than anyone was Kevin,” he said. He had been “her constant companion, her friend, her confidante, her North Star, a wonderful husband, a great Dad, a great step-Dad, an amazing Grandad, a man I am so happy and grateful to have seen come into my mother’s life as well as ours.”

[ ‘Deirdre Purcell was as warm and captivating as her books’: Leading figures pay tribute to author and broadcaster ]

Mass celebrant Fr John McNamara said Deirdre Purcell’s “sudden and unexpected death” had been “a huge shock not only to her family but to thousands of people across the country and beyond who knew and loved this author, this journalist, this actress and this broadcaster”. It was “a huge blow to her family. There was no time hardly even to say goodbye,” he said.

“No words that I can say or anyone else would say will make it all go away. It won’t. Death, in a sense, is a final curtain. There is hope. The purpose of our requiem Mass is to pray for the person who has died but it is also a Mass where we include the family and the relatives and the friends,” he said.

“We also celebrate her life during this liturgy, remembering her many achievements,” he said, adding that “obviously Deirdre loved and was loved in return and we thank God for her.”

The remains in a wicker coffin were carried from the Church as the song `Smile’ (though your heart is aching) was sung by Emma Warren.

[ Dear Editor: Deirdre Purcell’s debt to the red pen ]

Symbols brought to the altar at the beginning of the Mass included a laptop, in acknowledgment of her life as a writer and journalist, a book indicating her novels, and a passport in recognition of her love of travelling.

Chief mourners were husband Kevin Healy and sons Adrian and Simon Weckler.

President Michael D Higgins was represented by Capt Howard Beary. Former RTÉ colleagues including Pat Kenny, Joe Duffy and Anne Doyle were present, along with other prominent figures from Irish life, including journalist Terry Prone and former Tánaiste Mary Harney.

The Mass was followed by private cremation at Glasnevin cemetery.