The tiny Co Fermanagh village of Ballinamallard came to a standstill yesterday for the funeral of three of its most famous children, champion rally driver Bertie Fisher, his son Mark and daughter Emma.
The Fishers were on their way back from Ashford Castle, Co Mayo, where they had celebrated Mrs Gladys Fisher's 50th birthday last Sunday, when their helicopter crashed only miles from the family home. Mark, aged 27, and Emma, aged 25, died instantly. Mr Fisher, aged 50, died about 24 hours later as a result of his injuries.
Air accident investigators have not yet established the cause of the crash.
Mrs Fisher is still in a critical condition in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital, where the family's youngest son, Roy, aged 23, is also recovering from his injuries. He is reported to be in a stable condition.
Another patient in the Royal is Mr Fisher's father Tommie, aged 78, who has recently undergone a quadruple heart bypass operation.
On a dismally grey and rainy afternoon, the village's main street was a sea of black umbrellas as hundreds of mourners spilled out from the Church of Ireland Magheracross parish church. There Canon Paul Hoey, who has been the Fishers' minister for a decade, put into words the community's shock.
Thousands listened through loudspeakers around the village. Business associates of Mr Fisher, who ran a highly successful engineering firm, gathered at Ballinamallard Methodist Church to watch the service on a screen there.
In his sermon, Mr Hoey said Ballinamallard would not be the place it was today but for the Fisher family.
"No family has done more for Ballinamallard . . . I want to pay tribute to all the family circle for the way that they have conducted themselves over these past days.
"It has been a difficult time but for me personally, in a strange kind of way, it has been a privilege, a humbling and deeply moving experience to stand alongside them in their time of trial to witness the way they have met adversity of the worst kind with courage, dignity, with faith and concern for each other."
He said the family had received hundreds of messages of support, both from celebrities and from ordinary people who felt their lives had been enriched by Bertie, Mark and Emma.
Reading out a letter he had received from a woman who lost two friends in a light aeroplane crash, Mr Hoey drew a comparison between flying and life itself - while it was full of risks it needed to be savoured with gusto, not timidity.
Among the mourners were the North's Sports Minister, Mr Michael McGimpsey, his Southern counterpart, Dr McDaid, the MP for the area, Mr Ken Maginnis, the Assembly's Environment Minister and local MLA, Mr Sam Foster, the Rev Ian Paisley, boxing star Barry McGuigan as well as rally colleagues and rivals of Mr Fisher and his son from around the world.
They included Mr Austin Frazer, Mr Austin McHale, Mr Andrew Nesbitt and Mr Jimmy McRae.
Many of the mourners had known the family personally and said they were still in a state of shock. "True, they were the `first family' around here but you would have never guessed that speaking to them. There were no airs or graces about them. In Ballinamallard, we just can't believe what's happened to them," said shopkeeper Mr Ernie Hamilton.
The three coffins had been taken to the parish church on Wednesday night, when close to 1,000 people lined the streets to pay their last respects. The hearse stopped briefly outside the family's engineering works, which were in complete darkness yesterday as a sign of respect.
Mr Fisher, his son and daughter were then laid to rest at nearby Craghan cemetery. Their coffins were carried there by dozens of pallbearers, among them Mr Fisher's brothers, Ernie, Ivan and Kenny.