The death has occurred of:
John (Johnny) DONEGAN
Acknowledgement & Month’s Mind Mass
On behalf of the extended Donegan family, we wish to reach out with hearts full of gratitude to every one of our loved ones who stood beside us at the hospital through the final days of Johnny’s journey. Your presence and strength held us up when we needed it most, through one of the saddest and most difficult times of our lives.
We also wish to say a heartfelt thank you to the wonderful care teams who looked after Johnny with such kindness and compassion — Strabane District and North West Cares, and the Community Respiratory Team. And with special love and thanks to every nurse on Ward 26 at Altnagelvin Hospital, who cared for Johnny so gently and with such dedication.
To those among our family who opened their hearts during the wake and funeral, who brought food, comfort and kindness, and to everyone who took part in the beautiful Funeral Mass — who read so beautifully, and who brought forward the gifts — your love surrounded us and gave us such strength and comfort. We will never forget this.
And to every single person who came to the wake and the funeral — seeing just how dearly Johnny was loved by so many, and how many lives he touched, meant more than words can ever say. It truly held us close and lightened the heaviness in our hearts.
We want to say a very special, loving thank you to our mum for every moment of care, every act of kindness, and every bit of strength she gave us through daddy’s illness, and through his wake and funeral. We simply could not have walked this road without her.
Our deepest thanks also to Father Roni, Parish of the Three Patrons, for the beautiful, gentle and meaningful funeral Mass you celebrated for Johnny. And we are so grateful to Michelle Conaghan, vocalist, and Ursula Cullen, organist — the music you shared was so beautiful, and it made the service feel so special and full of love.
We also thank W J O'Brien Funeral Directors, for the dignity, care and kindness with which you guided us and arranged everything for Johnny — you made a difficult time so much easier to bear.
A special thank you filled with love to our cousin Rose Doherty of Garden Vogue Flowers — the beautiful flowers you created for Johnny were so thoughtful and so lovely, we will never forget them.
And to all of Johnny’s neighbours, and every member of the staff at Foyle Fold — thank you for your friendship, your kindness and your support over all these years.
It would be impossible to thank every single person one by one, so please accept this message as a token of our love and our deepest gratitude. Johnny has now set out on his final journey, home to be reunited with all the loved ones who went before him — his mum and dad, his precious son Jimmy Reds, and his brothers and sisters who are waiting to welcome him. And so we don’t say goodbye — we just say, see you later, until we meet again.
Johnny’s Month’s Mind Mass will be offered in St. Patrick’s Church, Pennyburn, Derry on Wednesday 2nd September at 7pm.
Everyone is very welcome to come and join us.