SCHOOLGIRL Caitlin Hogg was blowing kisses to her friends and saying she loved them in the moments before stepping off a bus and being struck by a car.
It was typical of the the 13-year-old Mount Lourdes Grammar School pupil, who had so much love for family and friends, the congregation at her funeral on was told.
Caitlin, who died following the accident last Tuesday, was remembered as “a special person, full of life and vitality”.
She was a model child who loved her extended family and friends, Fr Gabriel Kelly told the congregation at her funeral at a packed St Naile’s Church in Kinawley, Co Fermanagh.
Fr Kelly, a family friend, described the scene of the accident as “gut wrenching, stomach churning, devastating” while those left behind have to deal with “sheer, unbridled, anguish and grief”.
“Your perfect world has been shattered to pieces,” Fr Kelly told the congregation, including parents Bob and Rosemary and younger siblings Conor, Ronan and Cara.
But he urged people not to dwell on how Caitlin died, more on her life as the eldest of four siblings, a person who will be remembered for her “gentle, unassuming” manner and someone always with a big smile on her face.
“She brought out the best in people,” Fr Kelly said, adding she had a special bond with her grandparents but also with a tight circle of friends.
Fr Kelly remembered as someone who loved her tea and treats, enjoyed going to discos, was an excellent singer and tin whistle player.
She was a leader on the GAA football field for her local club Cill Náile, even playing in Croke Park in the Feile.
At the start of the service, symbols of the young girl’s life were brought to the front of the church.
They included a family photograph symbolising how much love she gave and experienced. It was an “idyllic childhood”, Fr Kelly later said.
Her treasured Kinawley jersey was bought along with the make up bag of “a beautiful young girl, kind, gentle” with a caring manner who had just started to grow up.
An Alexa, always by her bedside, and tin whistle were also brought before the altar as she was remembered for singing along to Taylor Swift and her musical ability. An angel she crafted in art class and was going to put on the Christmas was placed.
Aunt Juliana Doherty recited a special poem written for her niece, a "chain of life" now broken and come to "this sad end". But everyone that knew her will be "forever grateful" for that life.
Parish Priest Fr Maurice McMorrow, who led the mass, said the family has "graciously and magnanimously" accepted the driver of the car that struck Caitlin should not be blamed, that it could have happened to anyone.
