Children dressed in red and green GAA jerseys lined a street with heads bowed as three hearses drove slowly past them in a Co Fermanagh village on Wednesday morning.
One girl wept silently as coffins carrying the remains of Vanessa Whyte (45) and her children, James Rutledge (14) and daughter, Sara Rutledge (13) arrived at the gates of St Mary’s Church in Maguiresbridge.
A female PSNI officer kept her hand raised in a salute as the hearses approached.
Birdsong was the only sound.
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Hundreds of people thronged the Boyhill Road beside the village church in the hour before the service of removal.
It was exactly a week to the day that Ms Whyte, originally from Co Clare, and her children were shot dead in their family home, in what is being treated as suspected murder.
The only suspect, Ian Rutledge (43), who was married to Ms Whyte and the father of her children, died in hospital on Monday evening.
It is an “unspeakable loss” that has “pierced the hearts” of “their family, parish and country”, Fr Raymond Donnelly told mourners inside St Mary’s.
The priest said they had come together to pay their respects “under a weight of grief that words could not fully express”.
Outside, a sea of green and red – the colours of St Mary’s Maguiresbridge GFC and St Patrick’s Lisbellaw hurling club of which the family were members – wound their way around the church. James was the St Mary’s under-14 captain this year.
One man hugged his young pony-tailed daughter as she broke down in tears.
Women wearing pink florals and polka dot dresses – those attending were asked to wear “bright and cheerful clothing” – embraced under a grey sky.
Cobalt blue kits of Lisbellaw football club and the neon green tops of Maguiresbridge running club were also among the huge crowd.
Mourners fell silent as Fr Donnelly spoke of how the lives of Vanessa and her children were taken “in such an unspeakable way”.
Their loss had “shaken the community to its core” and was “more than any heart should bear”.
“We are left shocked, grieving, heartbroken, searching for meaning: grappling with questions too deep for words,” he said.
Ms Whyte was a vet at Stormont’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) at the time of her death.
She previously worked at a Co Fermanagh practice, Lakeland Vets in Derrygonnelly, and its principal vet, Innes Redmond, was among those who took part in the service.
“Vanessa was a woman full of kindness and warmth, a friend to so many here,” Fr Donnelly said in his homily.
“And her children, so young, so vibrant, so full of promise.
“Their laughter rang through school corridors, through playing fields, especially on the GAA pitch, where they thrived with passion and joy.
“That zest for life, their infectious energy, their open smiles. Words fail us..”
James and Sara attended Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, and its principal, Elizabeth Armstrong, delivered a reading at the beginning of the service.
Classmates attended in their school uniform along with children from the siblings’ former school, Maguiresbridge Primary, and in a direct address, Fr Donnelly said they should know that “it is okay to feel confused, angry, sad and to cry”.
He urged them to “please speak to someone”.
“Speak to your parents, to your teachers, to your clergy. Grief is not something to carry alone. It is a journey we make together,” he said.
“To all involved in sport – to coaches, team-mates, mentors – thank you for the joy you helped nurture in these children.
“Their bright spirits will remain a part of every game played in their memory.”
First Minister Michelle O’Neill, former first minister Arlene Foster, Fermanagh South Tyrone MP Pat Cullen, Environment Minister Andrew Muir and Brian McAvoy from Ulster GAA were among those present.
As a guard of honour formed outside the church towards the service’s close, strains of Nearer My God to Thee grew louder and the crowd swelled to walk behind the three coffins.
Covered in fresh flowers – white roses on Ms Whyte’s and vibrant red and yellow displays on her children’s – the coffins were carried side by side.
Requiem mass will be held in Ms Whyte’s native Barefield, Co Clare at noon this Saturday, followed by burial in Templemaley Cemetery.
