Mourners at Maureen O'Hara's funeral in the US on Monday were told of the late Dublin actress and her "fiery spirit" and of how she never lost her Irish roots during her long Hollywood career.
O'Hara was born in Ranelagh in 1920 and passed away on October 24 aged 95. She rose to global fame as the doughty star of such movies as Jamaica Inn and with her best-known role opposite John Wayne in The Quiet Man.
The Irish Times reports that Irish priest Fr Gerald Weymes recalled O’Hara as “very intelligent and multi-talented.” at the funeral, which took place on Monday in St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church near Washington DC.
Fr Weymes said: “Maureen was also witty, humorous, beautiful, compassionate, outgoing, strong-willed, courageous with fiery spirit of the Vikings and the untameable spirit of the Normans with a little smidgin or pinch of eros - all the qualities that one would expect in any Irish colleen.”
The veteran actress' remains were carried into the church in Arlington, Virginia to to music from 45-strong Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band from Chicago who played music from The Quiet Man.
Among the chief mourners were O’Hara’s grandson Conor Beau Fitzsimons with whom she lived in her final years in Boise, Idaho.
Mr Fitzsimons was joined by fellow pallbearers, his cousin Kevin Fitzsimons, O’Hara’s manager and biographer Johnny Nicoletti and three people who travelled from Glengarriff, Co Cork where the star kept a home for many years: Donal Deasy of Casey’s Hotel, and Jim Lyne and David O’Sullivan, both of Glengarriff Golf Club.
She was later buried alongside her husband US Air Force Brigadier General Charles F Blair at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. An Airforce Honour Guard casket team carried Maureeen O'Hara's remains as she was laid to rest alongside her husband.
Pic: Arlington National Cemetery
