“A small-town girl with big dreams.” Small town it may be, but Cappawhite came out in large numbers on Saturday to say goodbye to a popular young woman who lit up the community during her early years and went on to fulfill many of those big dreams in Ireland, England, and in the Los Angeles film industry .
It was her brother Tadhg who said Cathriona White was “a small-town girl with big dreams, and not afraid to pursue them,” during Saturday’s funeral Mass in Cappawhite as he talked about the symbols of her life brought to the altar at the beginning of the ceremony.
"She was a small fish in a big sea, but that didn't get in her way," he said of her time in LA. It was in LA that she struck up a relationship with actor Jim Carrey.
The reminders of her life included family photographs, make-up brushes, a football, a camera to represent her love of photography and a Cappawhite GAA jersey.
Her brother told the congregation that GAA remained a lifelong passion for his sister.
“She even had Jim (Carrey) and his family watching GAA matches at ridiculous times,” he said.
“Her slight frame was certainly no disqualification because she was tough and nobody wanted to mark her,” he said of her days on the pitch.
Reflecting on Cathriona’s short life, her step-sister Sarah said one word could be used to summarise her time – love.
“Cathriona had such an amazing capacity to love and to be loved. From growing up in Cappawhite, through to moving to Newcastle and then Clonmel and finally settling in LA, love remained a constant in her life from beginning to end. Family meant to much to Cathriona and it was hard for the whole family when they lost her father Pat to cancer in 2012.
“Cathriona was more of a daddy’s girl that anyone else I’ve ever met and although losing them both in such a short time is unimaginably difficult for us, we can take some comfort in the knowledge that Cathriona and Pat are together again,” Sarah said.
Not long after those words, silence fell across the main square in Cappawhite, broken only by the ringing of the church bell, as the coffin containing the remains was carried out of the church.
Jim Carrey helped to carry the coffin and stood in silence near the graveside as prayers were said and the words of Somewhere Over the Rainbow carried across the October breeze. He hugged members of the White family and shook the hands of people offering condolences.
The Hollywood star left the cemetery and walked back into the town centre, looking up and down the streets where Cathriona had grown up. Shortly after 2pm, just over three hours after he had arrived in Cappawhite, Carrey was gone again, members of his security team in tow, while the White family and their neighbours gathered in the community centre for refreshments to comfort each other and remember Cathriona’s life.