An Irish Wake

The guest of honor regrets that he cannot be with you tonight. He invites you to have a drink on him, raise a toast in his memory, and share a story.

Those of you that have known Patrick for a while have may heard him say that he wanted no big pompous funeral, no expensive monuments, just to be laid to rest in a plain pine box with a jug of whisky sitting on top to be passed around by his friends at the wake. Try explaining that to a funeral director... Oddly enough, or perhaps not, Patrick left very few specific instructions so I’m making this up as I go.

Pat was laid to rest in a wooden casket, the cover inlaid with the American Eagle and the corners marked alternately with the Celtic Cross and the emblem of the United States Marine Corps, two of the things he was most proud of, his Irish heritage and his patriotism. He carries along with him a small bottle of Poitín, which legend has it his father earned his imigration steamship fare by bootlegging, regretably though it's a bottle of the commercial stuff sold to tourists at the duty free shops and not his family's brew, but I'm certain he appreciates the spirt of the gesture. He now rests with his wife Ann of 53 years, in the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth Florida, Section 39, number 899. Ann passed away a few months before him on July 6th 2009.

At six-thirty or there about, we will have a quiet moment of remembrance to an ancient Irish air that the priest would not allow at his funeral mass, “The Coolin” aka “the fair one” (you can listen to it here) to be followed by the story telling. Several people have asked to speak, and I’d like to accommodate anyone who wishes to. So tell a story (try to keep it to a minute or three), and raise a toast to his memory.

Lets try and keep it more about laughter and good friends than tears. That’s the kind of memorial he wanted.