Sir Anthony (Tony) Hart was laid to rest yesterday, Thursday, at Devenish Parish Churchyard, Monea, at 2pm.
His funeral service took place on, Wednesday, at St Mark’s Parish Church with Rt Revd John McDowell, Bishop of Clogher, delivering a eulogy in which Tony’s Fermanagh roots were a constant theme.
Tony was born in Monea and was educated at Portora Royal School. He went on to become a high court judge in Northern Ireland and lived in County Down.
“Fermanagh is a very particular place in which to grow up, when the wax of a personality is still soft and will take a deep impression,” Bishop McDowell said
“It is a traditional place and I don’t know if that or some other factors had an influence on Tony’s somewhat timeless view of life. The very fact that we are using a funeral service today which has been very little changed since the middle of the 16th century is significant.”
Tony is survived by his wife Patrick, daughters Fiona and Katherine and son David and Bishop McDowell spoke about the bond of family during his eulogy:
“The most important aspect of Tony’s life was Mary and the family- Patrick, Fiona, Katherine and David. Mary and Tony. As they say when God made them he matched them and possibly only the mystery of God’s mind could have made that match. Tony a rather reserved Fermanagh boy. And Mary the outgoing girl from the county Cork,” he told the gathered congregation.
He went on to talk about the way Tony will be remembered by his family and indeed what he meant to them. He spoke about the words his children had written and the words they had spoken about their father:
“The word that has cropped up often and stuck out like a sore thumb in what you have said and written to me is the word “hero”. Dad was my hero. That is a big word. A hero...someone who faces life with courage, dedication, ingenuity and strength. And that is what your dad was to all of you.”
Bishop McDowell also spoke about Tony’s life long connection with Portora
“Tony had beautiful manners, the product too of that rather old fashioned upbringing and also of his time in Portora when it was a much smaller school operating in a much more relaxed educational era. He was a Christian gentleman,” he said before exploring Tony’s deep love of rowing:
“Rowing was Tony’s passion and he supported the Portora boats and in the past few years the Enniskillen Royal Grammar School rowers by his presence, by his enthusiasm and (as always with Tony) with his substance…If you wanted to see Tony in his natural habitat and in the fullness of his natural personality then all you had to do was to watch him at the Erne Head as a Portora or an ERGS boat pulled away of a Coleraine Inst eight.”
Bringing his eulogy to a close Bishop McDowell said that he wished to read a poem from Tony’s son, David saying that “it was David who wrote it but I think I can safely say it expresses the heart of the whole family.”
A Quiet Hero
He might not even know it
But if he did he’d not admit it
Storms rage all around him
He’ll not fall, not him
Not the hero
In quiet and unassuming way
From a task this man does not shy away
Brave, courageous, fair and inspiring
Qualities held by so few
He uses them to protect you
You’d think he was a normal, kind man
So much more is held within this man
Self righteous he is not
Unloved he is most definitely not
He’s a quiet hero
He’s my hero.
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