Funeral tribute

Just a brief word to say thanks to all of you who have sent messages of love and support to Kim - and to all those helped make Dan's funeral so special... including several who didn't manage to make it inside the church, so full was it.

I have been asked to post up the speech I was privileged enough to give on behalf of Dan's many many friends, and do so for all those who were unable to be there in person...


"Over the last 20 years. Dan Devine became my most loyal, trusted and closest friend – I cannot possibly put into words just how much I am already missing his company.. and that wonderful voice of his…

But… as a good friend to so many of us, let me at least try and capture something of the man - on behalf of all of us who were lucky enough to share in his life.
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The faith of his loving parents – along with his Catholic upbringing & schooling – gave Dan a rock solid base to live a life steeped in Christian values.

He must have known his Old Testament… Can any of have known anyone “honour their father or mother” more than Dan?

Not only that, I never once heard him coveting his neighbour’s ox… (or any other possessions for that matter). That just wasn’t him.

As for the New Testament, Dan most definitely heeded St Paul’s clarion call for what love really is:
Love is patient and kind,
Is not jealous, does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not take into account a wrong suffered
rejoices with the truth, bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

For in a world that’s increasingly superficial - Dan stood for something of real depth. Today, you’ll hear that called ‘old fashioned values’ – but Dan’s example to us all was that such sound foundations for a good life never go out of fashion.

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So, just why are so many of us here today?

Simple. We loved the man…. and for so many reasons:

We loved his Dignity:
Dan carried his illness oh so lightly for our benefit. As Sharon said this week, he made it so easy for us to forget he was often in not good health at all. Two weeks after his heart problems last summer – there we all were .. back round The Devines’ dining room table, enjoying Dan holding court as he meticulously cut his pizza, held it on the end of his fork for 15 minutes whilst sharing another tale.... and finally finishing his meal a good 20 minutes after the rest of us.

He carried his cross with so little outward complaint… How hard would it be for us to accept not being able to drive? Or to monitor every drop of liquid drunk? Or to be injecting needles daily from the age of 12? Or to not be able to kick a football such was the pain in his feet? Or indeed to never realise our full potential career wise through poor health. Dignity indeed.


We loved his warmth and his smile:
So many of you have commented upon it in your messages – his smile lit up our days… and often put us to shame for bemoaning our own petty misfortunes. He radiated warmth - and it was impossible not to feel the glow having been in his company.



We loved his hope and optimism:
His answer to “How you doin’ Dan?” pretty much became his catch phrase didn’t it? “Ach, I can’t complain.” Dan wasn’t just a glass half full man – oh no, his diet coke was positively overflowing from where he was looking..

He always continued to look forward… Michael has been telling me that Dan & Kim were hoping to visit him in Ireland this Easter. When Michael reported back that it may be difficult to arrange dialysis locally – Dan replied – “No problems, we were thinking of going to Lake Garda instead anyway.”

We loved his Patience & Courage:He had it in spades. Not only in facing up to some huge hurdles health wise - and long, sometimes lonely periods of convalescence …. but also in being willing to go on holiday with his mother in law. And not just once. Patience and courage indeed.


We loved his Wisdom and Sense of Fairness:
Dan & I agreed on just about everything – politics, music, sport, food – oh.. life generally. He was a socialist in the purest of senses – he believed in a fair society – and dedicated his career to the public good.

And his sense of justice is evidently as strong as ever. For the last 300 years, The Bill of Rights has prevented a Catholic monarch in this country.. something that irked us both over the years. Well, within a week of heading up there, Dan has quite evidently had a word – as apparently it’s very soon going to be put right. Quick work fella…

We loved him for his Loyalty:
Dan was such a reassuring presence in a world where friends too often can drift apart. If he liked you, you became a friend for life. Dan was there to help the party swing at my wedding, as well as my 21st , 30th and 40th birthday parties, And most memorably he was also there with Kim to express concern and support right through my own wife Sarah’s time of illness, with no thought for his own ongoing predicament.

We loved his Impishness & Wit:
Dan never told me for sure, but I remain convinced he did in fact write every single gag that has ever been rolled up inside a Christmas Cracker. He found humour in the most unlikely of places. Only a genuinely funny man could make you laugh at the same corny jokes time and time again. What we’d give to hear them one more time…


We loved his Love for life:
Dan had a heightened sense of “carpe diem” – his health meant he never had the luxury of taking life for granted. He made the best he could of every day – never more than when he enjoyed such a new lease of life following the successful transplant the trips to Florida, France, Zimbabwe.. the caravan trips, the weekends away.… he truly did seize the day.

We loved him for thinking himself a lucky man.
Dan really did regard himself as fortunate. Many of the reasons why are inside this Church right now. And indeed, I can vouch personally just how lucky he was… as in fact can any of us who ever sat in the passenger seat of his Blue Fiesta or the White Nova Sport, when Dan was at the wheel. One near miss at a roundabout on the A64 still haunts me… though Dan himself had forgotten all about it by the time we got to the chip shop by the football ground we were heading to in Scarborough…


We loved him for his passion and enjoyment of sport:From playing Gaelic in his youth to following Leeds and Celtic on the mainland, later playing for and coaching Leeds Academicals; his bamboozling off-spin for Leeds Planning Cricket team; his making it back home with to see Tyrone triumph in the All Ireland Title with the Conway brothers … to his very last morning on the touchline supporting his boy - Dan treated sport in just the right spirit: for Dan it was for sharing with the people he met along the way – and never an end in itself.


Perhaps above all we loved and admired his dedication to his family:Sport may have been a passion, but Dan reserved his true fanaticism for his family. He loved and respected his brother, and adored his wonderful wife and soulmate Kim… & of course his little miracle, Joseph. The last 18 years were without question his happiest, proud father and husband that he was. Our prayers and thoughts are with them.

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I think we all know there will be a gaping hole in all our lives… the exact shape and size of Dan Devine.

Though it’s much too raw just right now... when the grief begins to recede –
Le us see that big hole not as something dark we might fall into...
But as an open window for us to jump through…
As we seek inspiration...
from a life lived to the full.
Dan… To quote your beloved Undertones… you really were a “Beautiful friend”.

We loved you Dan. And we will never forget you. God Bless, and may you Rest in Peace. Amen."