George Guest was a man blessed with many families, mourners at his funeral were told this week — his own family most of all, but also those in Galway’s football community, his work colleagues in An Post, and the family he made in Mervue’s Parish Church.

That’s how Mervue PP, Canon Martin Glynn, summed up the life of a Galway legend who left his mark on the League of Ireland community in particular, but who, the congregation heard, also leaves his legacy in so many other areas of life.

Canon Glynn particularly praised the family’s acceptance of, and ability to cope with, George’s illness and impending death — describing it as ‘a true example of what family was all about’.

“He was the Chairman of the Parish Council when I came to the parish, but it was since he was diagnosed with terminal illness that our relationship reached a different level,” he said.

“My last visit to see George was on Christmas Day, but it was a visit I made to him about two weeks earlier that I most remember, when he asked me what I was going to say at his funeral Mass.

“Like a Kerryman, I answered his question with a question: ‘What would you like me to say, George?’

“For him, family was everything, he was blessed with them — and he truly appreciated all you had done for him.

“Then he went on to name out the other families he met that contributed to his life — his family in An Post, his soccer colleagues and the family he had made here in this Church.

“I looked up the definition of ‘family’ and it is a group of people who are connected by care, responsibility and lasting relationships — George was truly blessed with the families that added to his life,” he said.

Caption: George Guest (back – third from left) with members of the 1991 Galway United team at Eamonn Deacy Park three years ago, commemorating their win over Shamrock Rovers (back – from left) Joe Keating, Mary O’Connor (representing the late Eamonn Deacy), George Guest, Johnny Glynn, Paul Campbell, John Cleary, Terry O’Regan, Kevin Cassidy and then-Deputy Mayor of Galway, Cllr Mike Cubbard, with (front) manager Joey Malone, Noel Mernagh, Adrian Walshe, Paula O’Flaherty (representing the late Tommy Keane), Pete Carpenter, Johnny Morris Burke, Jimmy Nolan, Ja Keating and Derek Rogers, with (front) mascots Colm Garvey and Patrick Lynas.

Read the full tribute to George Guest in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie.