Guard of honour for Mullingar man in Letterkenny
Obituary
Representatives of the Irish Army formed a guard of honour outside St Eunan’s Cathedral in Letterkenny on last Saturday week ahead of the funeral of their former colleague and friend, Hughie Watters, of 18 Gartan Avenue, Letterkenny.
Hughie, who had been in ill health for some time, died in the Donegal Hospice on Wednesday May 31.
A native of Lady Aberdeen Cottages Mullingar, he had long made Letterkenny his home and was a kind and friendly man who was popular among his colleagues at Rockhill Army Camp in Letterkenny, where he attained the rank of sergeant.
Hughie’s distinguished career in the army was fondly remembered during his funeral Mass by chief celebrant, Monsignor Kevin Gillespie, who recalled how Hughie had also served overseas with the UN.
Fr Jerry Carroll, chaplain at Finner Camp, was also in attendance. Mgr Gillespie said Hughie loved to return to his native Mullingar, especially while his mother Margaret, affectionately known as Peggy, was still alive. “The children came to love the town of Mullingar, as long stretches of the summer were spent enjoying time with their midland cousins,” he said.
He said that after joining the army as a teenager, Hughie’s career took him overseas with the UN, first in the Congo and later in Cyprus and in Lebanon, on more than one tour of duty, and all places of high tension in that period. “For all who served with Hughie, or under his direction, there was respect, friendship and loyalty,” Mgr Gillespie said.
“A soldier is to be a standard bearer for whom honour and courage are marks of character long before they might be singled out for praise in action.”
Mgr Gillespie said Hughie first came to Donegal just for a few months, to Fort Dunree.
“But then he met Ita McBrearty at one of his first dances here,” he said, and what followed was 53 years of love, 51 of those married.
Hughie spent time training at Columb Barracks before UN missions and loved those stints, as he could drop in to the home place.
Former army colleagues also had a guard of honour at Conwal Graveyard following Hugh’s funeral Mass, and a wreath was also laid at Hughie’s grave on behalf of the IUNVA.
The esteem in which Hugh was held in the Irish Army was clear from the soldiers who travelled from all over Ireland to attend his funeral.
Hughie was predeceased by his parents Peter and Margaret, sisters Betty (USA), and Kathleen (Mullingar) and brother, Jimmy (England). Hughie will be sadly missed by his wife Ita (née McBrearty), daughter Tracy Cannon, sons Peter, Tony, Damien and Declan, brothers, Frank and Billy (Mullingar), Peter (England), sister Ann (USA), grandchildren Adam, Leah, Erin, Mia, Rea-Mae, Indie and Lottie, son-in-law Liam, daughters-in-law Fiona, Marsha and Naomi, his nieces and nephews and wide circle of friends.