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There was sadness, tears a little bit of laughter at the heartbreaking funeral of Anne Laird-Caffrey, the wife of Irish broadcaster, Colm Hayes on Saturday morning.
Anne passed away earlier this week after a six year battle with cancer. She is survived by her loving family: her father Sylvester, husband Colm, daughter Holly, son Alex and his fiancé Laura, and her siblings Paul, Mark, Trish, Martin, Therese, Steven and Tara.
Anne’s funeral service took place in Mount Jerome Cemetery & Crematorium in Dublin.
Billy Joe’s ‘Always a Woman’ played as mourners slowly made their way inside the the Victorian Chapel at around 10am.
The chief celebrant introduced himself as a friend who knew Colm from when the pair were in nappies. “And I think Colm is still wearing nappies to this day,” joked John.
John then invited Anne’s family and friends to bring forward symbols that represented her life. They included a bottle of Jo Malone perfume; a bottle of Cointreau; a caricature of Anne’s beloved dog, Rocky, who stayed by her side until the very end and Anne’s passport.
Anne’s heartbroken daughter Holly receipted a poem before a Bible passage from the Book of Wisdom was read out. Mourners also listened to a piece of music by Bruce Springsteen called ‘If I Should Fall Behind’.
However, the piece of music that left most inside the Victorian Chapel in tears was well known Irish ballad ‘The Leaves of Autumn’ by The Furies. As the music played a montage of photos documenting Anne’s life played on a large screen at the rear of the chapel.
Colm and Anne’s son Alex spoke about his mother who he described as “amazing”. Alex joked that he did not know anyone who ‘raked up so many airmiles and drank so margaritas’ as his mum did in the last few years of his life.
Alex said both he and his family’s hearts had been “broken into a million pieces” before tearfully saying “goodbye, mum, we love you”.
As the end of service neared, Anne’s husband, Classic Hits presenter, Colm Hayes, paid tribute to his wife who he described as his “fighter”.
Mr. Hayes started off his tribute by asking all those in the Victorian Chapel to give the staff at St. Vincent’s Hospital who cared for his wife a round of applause. In fact, Mr. Hayes made a point of highlighting all of the different nationalities of the nurses who cared for his wife, describing them as the “rainbow of colours”.
“Anne was a fighter and boy did she fight,” said a tearful Colm. “When we were renewing our vows a few years ago, I remember there was advert on TV from AIB, and it spoke about how brave the farmer was who got up each morning to tend to the cattle or how brave the woman was for opening the cafe every morning – that was their job.
“Brave was what Anne did. She got up every morning and put her two feet on the ground and lived with cancer until the day she died.”
Colm explained how his wife was originally from Belfast and after losing her own mother at a young age she helped to raise her brother and sisters. After a few different jobs in different parts of Ireland, Anne eventually got job working for Nova Radio in Dublin and that’s where she would meet future husband, Colm.
“Anne used to pay me every week and every week I would ask her out and every week she would say ‘no’,” joked Colm “But after my sixth attempt, she married me,” he smiled.
Colm described his wife as a compassionate woman who adored her children and absolutely loved travelling. He also recounted his last moments with her before she passed away earlier this week.
“I told her I loved her and told I have the kids now, kissed her goodbye and told her she was off to her final resting place.
“Sleep well – I will love you always and forever.”
As the funeral service ended and mourners made their way forward to pay their respects one final song played out – ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’ by The Eagles.
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