‘They suffered more than any family should’: Bray couple remembered for bravery at shared funeral

The couple who suffered sudden deaths at their Bray, Co Wicklow, home last week were remembered for their kindness, love for their children and good nature at their shared funeral on Tuesday.

Hundreds gathered outside St Anne’s Church in Shankill to welcome the two hearses carrying the coffins of James ‘Jamie’ McGinn and his wife Bridget ‘Biddy’ O’Brien who were found dead at their home in the Cois Cairn estate on Old Connaught Avenue in Bray, last week.

The mass at St Anne’s Church was offered by Bray parish priest Fr Michael O’Kelly and Shankill parish priest Fr Emmet O’Hara.

As two bibles, a set of tools and a radio were placed on the coffin, O’Kelly told the congregation they represented their faith, Jamie’s love of working with his hands and the couple’s shared love of music.

O’Kelly said he had begun to understand the couple’s personalities, their struggles and how loved they were while speaking with their family after their deaths.

The couple lost both of their children, Holly (3) and Jordan McGinn (4), in a 2017 fire of which O’Brien was the only survivor. However, the priest said they refused to be “defined simply by the tragic deaths”, but were a constant presence at their children’s graves.

He said there was a “depth of grief” in the family which was suffering “another impossible wave of grief” almost 10 years after the loss of the two children. The family had “suffered more than any family should”, he said.

The funeral heard that O’Brien “never fully returned to the person she had been before”, a person “full of joy”.

As she had suffered severe burns in the fire, she remained hospitalised for weeks after the incident and could not attend the funeral.

“By the time she recovered from her injuries, the children had already been buried for some time. Not having the chance to say goodbye, to grieve properly, was something that really haunted her ever since then.”

Despite the tragedy the couple faced, the congregation was told “Biddy ... never lost her kindness towards others” and that “Jamie was someone who would do anything for anyone.”

An obituary written by McGinn’s father, Michael, remembered how he had been a “wonderful little crew member” on sailing trips in memories that held a “special place” in both of their hearts.

Michael said his son had a “natural curiosity” in how things were made, often watching bricklayers and carpenters at work “taking everything in,” and that he was proud of how he turned that interest into “real skills”.

“May you and Bridget rest together in peace. You will both remain forever in our hearts.”

O’Kelly told the funeral that McGinn’s work in a roofing company, having had a lifelong love for building things, “gave him focus and helped him to cope with the loss of his children” but that “his hold on life remained very fragile”.

The priest encouraged the families to “hold on to the image of Biddy and Jamie embracing their children” and that “death doesn’t have the final word. That love is stronger than death.”

The couple rejoined their “beloved children” Jordan and Holly at Springfield Cemetery in Bray.