The kindness that Gerry Mulholland (Jarír Al-Majar) had shown to so many people during his seven decades on this earth was repaid to him by strangers when he collapsed on Mary Street in Galway City on Friday, April 28.

Two young medics who were on the street went to his help and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived. Their act kept him alive and meant his family had 12 extra days with him until his death in UHG on Wednesday, May 10.

At his reposal in O’Flaherty’s Funeral Parlour on Saturday, May 13, Gerry’s twin sister Breda thanked those medics, in a moving and occasionally humorous eulogy.  She spoke of the lifelong bond between Gerry and herself and of rescuing him on  occasions when his  principles got him into trouble.

She spoke of the beautiful, fun boy he had been, growing up in Salthill, and the unbreakable connection they’d had since childhood.

And she spoke of his central role in the life of his family – first of his siblings, then his nephews and nieces, and more recently the next generation again.

Gerry and Breda had discussed the type of funeral he wanted, and it was to be a celebration with no black worn and with music from the many friends who had been touched by his own musical talent through the years.

Among them was bouzouki player and Clare FM presenter Eoin O’Neill who had observed on social media that when Gerry played the piano in Tigh Neachtain (which he did with great regularity), “he had an energy that took over the room”.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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