HUNDREDS of mourners packed into St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry today as the city said a sad farewell to ‘Mr Derry’ Martin McCrossan, the tour company guide who championed the city as a tourist destiny.
Colleagues from his tour company wore their familiar yellow jackets as they carried Martin on his final journey into the cathedral.
Mourners recalled a happy, smiling man, dedicated to his family and dedicated to his city.
Father Paul Farren told the congregation that he didn’t believe Martin was resting in peace in heaven; he’d probably be organising a tour.
Mourners passed their deepest sympathies to Martin’s wife Sharon, his daughters Christina and Charlene and sons-in-law Lorne and Jason.
He said Martin was full of life, full of energy, full of the future adding: “It all ended so suddenly and so quickly, too suddenly and too quickly.”
The priest said Martin “was loved by this city”.
He went on: “If we say Derry was one single house, Martin was the man of the house who welcomed the visitors and told them the story, and he loved doing it and they loved him doing it.”
He said there was no doubt that Martin will have already started tours of heaven.
“Often we say of people who have died, rest in peace. But I can’t imagine Martin wanting to rest, it wasn’t in his nature. We pray he will live with great energy and joy in the presence of God,” said Fr Farren.
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