MOURNERS will gather in west Belfast tomorrow for the funeral of a father-of-three who drowned in Co Donegal.
Michael Willis, who was 45 and from the Colin area, died at Maghera Beach near Ardara on Saturday afternoon.
He got into difficulties when a dinghy capsized in the water shortly before 2.30pm.
The west Belfast man was recovered by the coast guard, brought ashore and transferred to Letterkenny University Hospital.
He was the son of Veronica Willis, a former Sinn Féin member of the old Lisburn City Council who was elected a councillor for the Dunmurry Cross electoral area in 2001 and 2005.
A talented soccer coach, Mr Willis was a former senior team manager with Colin Valley FC in Poleglass.
His brother Oran posted on Facebook that losing his big brother had "shocked my family to the core".
"Words can’t describe how I feel today. I can only hope to be half a father to my son as he was to his children. Rest in peace."
Requiem Mass for Michael Willis will take place tomorrow at 10am at The Church of the Nativity in Poleglass. Burial will take place afterwards in Blaris Cemetery.
