'They were always together': Funeral of Robert Garwe and Shauna Flanagan Garwe takes place

LAST UPDATE | 15 Oct 2022

THE FUNERAL HAS taken place in Donegal of Creeslough victims Robert Garwe and his daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe.

The paid were remembered “side by side” during their joint funeral service, which marks the final funeral of the 10 victims of last week’s explosion at the service station in Creeslough, with victims ages ranging between five and 59.

Robert, who was aged 50, and his five-year-old daughter Shauna, the youngest victim of the tragedy, are the ninth and tenth victims to be laid to rest.

Robert and Shauna were in the Applegreen shop buying a birthday cake for her mother.

Father John Joe Duffy described Shauna and her father as “side by side in the shop”, adding that Mr Garwe “in that split second just wanting to help protect his beautiful daughter so very much”.

A small brown wicker casket sat alongside an adult’s wooden coffin at their joint funeral in St Michael’s Church in Creeslough on Saturday morning.

Fr Duffy told mourners:

Side by side here, we pray that they are side by side in heaven.

President Michael D Higgins was among the mourners today, with residents of the village lining its main street once again for the sixth funeral service in St Michael’s for victims of the tragedy in five days.

Funeral service

Originally from Wedza in Zimbabwe, Robert worked in construction and previously lived in Dublin. Locals said he could often be seen travelling around the village on his scooter.

Shauna started school at Scoil Mhuire in Creeslough just weeks ago.

Fr Duffy offered his “most sincere sympathies” to Mr Garwe’s partner Aine “on the death of your partner and your beautiful daughter”, and welcomed family members who had travelled, including some from Zimbabwe.

Symbols representing different aspects of Robert Garwe and Shauna’s lives were present, including a scooter “which was very much part and parcel of their lives”.

“I’m not sure who could go fastest on the scooter, but I know on feet, Shauna could outrun her dad, be it at the school gate, be it on the road where I so often saw them and met them, or be it in the shop where she helped to stack the shelves with the girls,” Fr Duffy told mourners.

There was also a catapult for “hunting together” and Shauna’s favourite unicorn teddy in the Creeslough church.

Fr Duffy said people are “feeling the pain of loss in a very profound and deep way” in Creeslough.

He described a “very tough week” adding: “The heartbreak is so visible in our eyes, the eyes of people emanating.

Remembered 

“We are gathered here this morning, once again, to say farewell to a father and his beloved and much loving beautiful little girl,” Fr Duffy said.

Robert was remembered as being proud of his Zimbabwean roots and being proud of his children.

Fr Duffy said:

I often talked with Bob… he just had that friendliness, keeping fit and keeping well was so important to him, and he had that beautiful love for little Shauna.

He described Shauna as someone who “loved to entertain” as he read from a poem written in tribute to her.

“Shauna could always be heard with a giggle, and when sitting down she sure did like to wiggle,” the priest said.

“On her pink scooter she would come to the gate, with Kylo in tow, her little dog mate.

So chatty and bubbly she just loved to play, and have fun with her friends each and every day.”

The tribute went on to describe the child’s love of art and animals, adding:

A great vet she would have been. She was a lovable character with a mischievous way, and we will miss her so much, forever and a day.

Fr Duffy added: “A truly wonderful girl who left a lasting impression on all she met.

“She, together with her dad, were very well known in this community, together with her dad and mum, such a familiar sight up and down the road, they were always together, that little unit.”

Mourners at the funeral on Friday of the oldest victim of the blast, Hugh Kelly, heard he had brought Mr Garwe and Shauna to the service station shop to buy a birthday cake for her mother.

Mr Garwe worked in construction and could often be seen travelling around the village on his scooter.

Shauna started at Scoil Mhuire national school in Creeslough just weeks ago.

Yesterday

Yesterday, the funeral of Hugh Kelly took place at St Michael’s Church in Creeslough. 

The funerals of Jessica Gallagher, 24, and Martin McGill, 49, were held in Creeslough on Tuesday, while those of Catherine O’Donnell, 39, and her son James Monaghan, 13, were held in Creeslough on Wednesday afternoon.

A service for James O’Flaherty, 48, was held on Wednesday morning in Derrybeg.

On Thursday, the funeral of Martina Martin, 49, took place in Creeslough while the funeral of Leona Harper, 14, was held in Ramelton.

With reporting from Jane Moore