Crowds at funeral of woman killed by falling tree

A WOMAN who was killed last week by a falling tree exuded “sheer optimism and positivity” during her life, her husband said at her funeral Mass yesterday.

Richard Collins said his wife Lynda had a radiant personality and an ability to make friends everywhere she went.

Ms Collins (45), a mother of three from Booterstown, Co Dublin, died when gale-force winds caused a tree to fall on her as she crossed Waterloo Road in Donnybrook, Dublin, last Thursday.

Ms Collins was the daughter of former Fine Gael chief whip and Dublin lord mayor Fergus O’Brien. He was among the chief mourners along with his wife Peggy.

Former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, and other past and present Fine Gael politicians, including Mary Banotti, Avril Doyle, Nora Owen and Seán Barrett, were also among the mourners at the funeral, as was ESB chief executive Pádraig McManus. Ms Collins was an ESB employee.

The church of St John the Baptist in Blackrock overflowed for yesterday’s funeral Mass.

Mr Collins told mourners his wife had also been his best friend. Although the family were devastated by her death, he would look on “21 fabulously happy years” together.

They had met while working at KPMG and he was captivated by her “personality, confidence and genuine warmth”.

She had been a real beauty as a student at Trinity College Dublin and had many admirers.

“I fell in love with her straight away,” he told the congregation.

He listed her many interests which included English stately homes, gardening, literature, fashion and sport, and said she had an ability to do 100 lengths of a pool and long cycle rides easily.

She had taken excellent care of their youngest daughter Juliana (7), who had epilepsy, and she knew as much as the experts did on how to treat her, he said.

The couple have two other children, Georgia (14) and Robert (13).

Chief concelebrant Fr Laurence Collins, an uncle of Mr Collins, said the presence of so many people was a sign of “support and comfort” for the family.

“We as Christians wonder and pause and ask questions,” he said.

“Today we are wondering where God is in all this tragedy?” he asked.

Ms Collins was buried afterwards at Shanganagh cemetery.