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Joan Millar

I welcome you to this funeral liturgy for Joan. Thank you for joining us today – especially all those who have travelled a great distance to be with us today.

Death is always a shock; even more so when it’s the death of someone close to us who has died long after a long illness. We all come here to remember a lady, to give thanks, even in our grief, for her life, to offer each other, and especially those who will most miss her, the consolation of our love and our presence with you today; and to offer also the promise of eternal life.

Our consolation will be the happy memories we have of Joan; our sadness is that she has gone from us. Our sure Christian hope is that the Lord our God will welcome her home and that one day we will be united together in heaven. In the depth of our loss and hope we now pray and offer this Eucharist for Joan.

We come to God, knowing we need his mercy and forgiveness, and so in preparing to celebrate the Mass we call to mind our sins.

Lord, you suffered and died in our name. Lord have mercy.

Lord, your heart was moved with compassion for the sick and the bereaved. Christ have mercy.

Lord you suffer with your people at the right hand of the Father. Lord have mercy.

And may almighty God, have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to life everlasting.

Let us pray:

Almighty God and Father of all, you strengthen us by the mystery of the cross and with the sacrament of your Son’s resurrection. We pray for JOAN, grant her peace. Welcome her to the eternal joy of the kingdom and give us all new hope in our sorrow that one day we shall all be with you and with each other in your home where every tear will be wiped away. Grant, this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Funeral of Joan Millar

We gather here today in sadness with the family of Joan Millar. Our thoughts are for you. We ask God to send his Consoler to bring his peace to your hearts and to your homes. We give thanks to God for the life that he gave Joan and pray in faith that he will welcome her home to everlasting happiness in heaven.

There is as the Scriptures remind us, a time for every season under heaven. As we gather in this church we reflect on the mystery of time and providence that are in God’s hands: there is indeed a time to die, a time to weep, a time to mourn, a time to keep silence, a time to speak, a time to love.

Holding a vigil for Joan, her family have shared memories of who she was and what she meant to them. We mourn her passing, we cherish her memory. Above all you have remembered the humanity of a good person. Today as we gather in sorrow to remember Joan. A burden of pain, burden of loss, burden of grief weighs heavily on you all. We gather as a community - our presence here today is our way of reaching out to the family.

Joan was born to Anthony and Elizabeth Convery in 1944 during the war. They lived on the Drumnascamph Road before moving to Barrack Yard. She attended primary school in Laurencetown before going to St. Patrick’s, Banbridge where she was the captain of the camogie and netball teams.

She worked in the Down Shoes in Banbridge in the making room as a final finisher keeping us on our feet. She met her future husband Michael at a dance in St. Mary’s Hall, Portadown, dancing to the Bachelors. They married three years later in Laurencetown when Mick, a fine Tyrone man and he brought the Moy with him to Laurencetown. She was a devoted follower of Tullylish and county Down all her life. A lifelong Pioneer she was secretary of the Legion of Mary, worked at the little stall outside the church and sang in the choir. She had a simple life and loved her visits to Knock and being a second mother to Peter, her loving nephew.  

We remember a lovely person, a lady who was a treasure to you all. Letting go of her today is not going to be easy for Joan was a great lover of family, people and life itself. Thank you to all who cared for her and loved her in life. Now her suffering is over. As Joan has died now a part of you dies as well. You are filled with sorrow because her death leaves a gap that no-one else can fill adequately. When we remember her today we cannot help recalling the things she said and the way she said them, the things she did and her way of doing them but sadness is tinged with hope and expectation. We pray that she is with the Lord and we look forward to the day when we will be reunited with her. Christ’s resurrection assures us that if we follow him we will rise again. It is only with death that life really makes sense, it’s our leap into eternity, it is God calling us home to be with him forever. At a time like this we come face to face with our own mortality.

Living a truly Catholic life is about waiting in hope and as people of hope we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Joan’s period of waiting is now over.

She brought love, care and friendship to those who knew her. Always faithful to her Church, prayer and fidelity to the mass and the sacraments were second nature to her. She died after her strength could no longer meet the challenge of life. Today then we bid farewell to Joan. Despite your sense of loss, you will face the future with courage and hope, knowing that that is what your loving wife Joan, your sister and aunt would want you to do. We comfort one another in the sure confidence that for Joan life has changed, not ended. We also derive comfort from the conviction that she is at peace with God after many years of suffering.

I would like to extend our sincere sympathy to Joan’s loving husband Mick, sister Maureen, brothers Harry and Tony, brothers in law, sisters in law, nephews, nieces and the entire family circle.