John Sweeney

John Sweeney died peacefully in Boyle, County Roscommon on Thursday morning March 27, 2014. John was formerly of Drimulra, Newport, County Mayo.
John was born to Richard Snr and Annie Sweeney of Drimulra, a hard working and decent couple, in the summer of 1936 along with his twin brother Richard (otherwise known as Dick). He had a stepbrother Pat (Scotland) and step sister Mary Joe Corcoran (Liverpool).
 John attended Cuilmore National School and although he left school at an early, he was a widely educated man in the ways of the world, with a strong character and a big heart. He made friends very easily, and always thought fondly of those that had predeceased him.
 At an early age, John worked in Achill with Mayo County Council, cycling both up and down to Achill, before and after his day’s work. He had a great passion for playing handball in the evenings after, his energy was in abundance. John’s main passion in life was work and he was always at his happiest working with his brother Dick and everybody loved to see both coming as they surely knew that the work would get done twice as fast. Like many an Irish lad he emigrated to Scotland where he and his brother worked at everything from picking potatoes to driving machinery and groundworks. Both travelled around England, Scotland and Wales and found work easily and happily.
 Due to the failing health of their parents John, Dick and Dick’s wife Mary returned home in the early seventies to mind their parents Richard Snr and Annie. After their death he made a life for himself in Dublin where he spent thirty years and met his beloved Irene, who sadly passed away in 1999. He loved to travel and meet people and always had a word for everybody he met. He had a nature about him to talk and to listen.
 In the later years of his life he settled in Boyle, County Roscommon where he had a large network of great friends, enjoyed fantastic health and carried with him a strong faith, he liked the simple things in life and always had a dog for a companion.
 He loved his family and made it his business to go home to (Drimulra) or “the Mountain” as he called it every Saturday for dinner and a catch up of the week’s events with Dick and Mary. He never missed a family occasion.
 In September last year he underwent a serious operation but testament to John’s strength and determination he pulled through and made a full recovery aided by his family and friends. Being independent as he was when he was well enough he decided to go back to Boyle where he was surrounded by fantastic people who cared for him, especially Margaret.
 John was reposed at the family home in Drimulra on Friday night March 28, surrounded by family and friends safe in the knowledge that he was loved and cared for. John would loved to have known that he was in such company especially that of Michael O’Haire. On Saturday afternoon, John left his beloved Mountain for the last time and most fitting of all it was a Saturday, for funeral Mass celebrated by Fr Jim Walsh, PP, Kilmeena and Fr Donal, PP, Boyle.
Family members took part in the funeral liturgy which was beautifully enhanced by E. Muldoon’s music and singing. John was laid to rest in the family plot beside his mother Annie and father Richard Snr. John’s hard work on earth was finally done and God had called him home for his eternal rest.
John was survived by his twin Dick, his sister-in-law Mary, daughter Sylvia, his grandchildren, Kayleigh, Sammie, Carrie and Nikki, step-brother Pat, step-sister Mary Joe, his nieces Mary Ann, Hillary and Monica, his nephew John, his cousins in Ballycroy, including his aunt Elizabeth McGowan and his good friend Margaret Barry.
 John will be sadly missed by all that knew him especially his family and friends. May he and all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen - Goodbye to a good friend.