Bernadette Connolly remembered as ‘brightest star’ at funeral

Bernadette Connolly was remembered as a woman who was beautiful, funny and kind, whose daughter was the centre of her world, her funeral Mass heard.

The 49-year-old from Swords was last seen on January 7th when she was dropped off by a taxi at the Shoreline Hotel, in Donabate. Her body was recovered on the coastline in Blackpool on February 4th, and later identified through DNA analysis earlier this month.

She is survived by her daughter Jade, her parents Patrick and Nuala, brothers Des and Anthony, and sister Madeline.

Delivering her funeral Mass in St Cronan’s Church, Brackenstown, north Co Dublin, Fr Paul Thornton said Bernadette had brought “so much into the lives of so many people”.

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Her daughter had been the “centre” of her life, as was the family dog Gucci, the priest told mourners.

Her disappearance in early January “broke” her family’s hearts, but “from that first day, they never stopped looking for her”, Fr Thornton said.

Her daughter Jade told mourners her mother had been “beautiful, funny, kind and true”. She brought love, light and laughter into all the lives of all who knew her, and was a hard worker, adored by her friends, she said.

“Mam, I will never forget the day, the day that changed all of our lives forever, being told you are missing, last seen on a beach … That night I stayed up looking outside your bedroom window, hoping to see your face walk down the road, hoping this was all a dream,” she said.

“Shouting your name, I would have walked to the ends of the earth for you,” she said.

Her mother’s love and kindness “knew no bounds,” she said.

Their bond had been “unbreakable,” and her mother was her teacher, her protector, and her world, she said.

“We are the bestest of friends, who shared many laughs, many cries, highs and lows, countless memories that will live on forever”. Fighting back tears, she promised to make many more memories for the both of them.

Nothing, she said, would ever take her mother’s place.

Work colleagues from the Daa (Dublin Airport Authority) stood in a guard of honour as the coffin arrived at the church on Wednesday.

Among personal effects brought to the altar during the service were a tag Jade wore as a new born baby, a work diary, and a hair dye kit, as Bernadette had always vowed a grey hair would never be seen on her head.

Other items included a Carbury creme egg to signify her love of “guilty pleasures”, as well as the towel she brought to the beach the day she went missing.

Her brother Des said the family could “not have got through the past two months” without the help of friends, relatives, and others who volunteered to help search efforts after she went missing.

In a letter from her siblings read out during the Mass, Bernadette was remembered as “the brightest star in the sky” and the “warm sun on our backs”.