THE final journey of Gerry Higgins to Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast was very much a coming together of the St Gall’s GAA family and local community.
Members of the different teams he was associated with escorted the cortege as it wound its way along the Andersonstown Road and down Milltown Row to the home of his beloved club.
During a minute's silence, memories of great days spent on the pitch or socialising in his Uncle Jimmy’s ‘Deary Me Room’ told the story of more than six decades in the service of St Gall’s.
And after a short journey back up to Milltown, where a moving tribute was delivered by Fr Joey McGuigan, Gerry's body was committed to the earth on a spot which gives an unhindered view of the football ground.
Born in 1952 to Paddy and Mona Higgins, Gerry grew up in Dunlewey Street off the Falls Road, the youngest of five children.
He attended St Gall’s Primary School in Waterville Street, where he would have encountered the redoubtable Kerryman Brother Leopold Spillane and was gently steered in the direction of St Gall’s Youth Club and Gaelic Athletic Club.
Gerry distinguished himself as an outstanding sprinter early on, winning all before him in an era when primary school athletics had a high profile.
He also captained the Gaelic football team to inter-school success in 1963.
Transferring to St Thomas’s Secondary School on the Whiterock Road, Gerry excelled academically as well as in all sporting disciplines.
The school had a reputation as a basketball centre and he captained the team to three Ulster Cup successes.
He also continued to develop his football skills and under the tutelage of Paddy Casey and Danny McMullan, he again led from the front as captain of a success-laden school team from 1965-68 - and was a key member of the first Antrim All Ireland Vocational Schools winning side.
On leaving school Gerry qualified as a quantity surveyor. Employed by Farrans, he worked on many of their large projects including the Odyssey Arena.
But side by side with his working life, Gerry’s sporting career continued apace.
Not content to play on Sundays with St Gall’s, his Saturdays were spent in Irish League grounds ranging from Larne to Distillery and Glenavon where, in a European Cup match, he matched his skills against the might of Standard Liege.
He also won a Steel & Sons medal with Brantwood FC.
By the early 1980s St Gall’s had emerged as one of the leading club sides in Ulster. Gerry, with his pace and work-rate as a wing-forward, was central to this success, winning three county championship medals, one Ulster Club medal and captaining his native county.
But while sport may have been his passion, the real love of his life was Olivia. They had been together from their teenage years and were married for 46 years.
Olivia worked for the BBC for almost four decades and they had three children, Gareth, Lisa and Paul. Each was born four years apart and Gerry always joked that it was either a full moon or a World Cup which brought them into the world.
Olivia and Gerry knew how to party and were generous and welcoming hosts at their home in Dunmurry Lane.
Portugal was also a favourite holiday location and particularly memorable was August 2017. It was Gerry’s last time abroad and even though dementia had by now set in, he thoroughly enjoyed being away with his family.
And family was so important to him. He lived for his eight grandchildren, Eabha, Oisin, Cian, Dylan, Noah, Tina, Lucy and Sophie.
More than three years ago Gerry needed to go into a care home. There he was regularly visited by his family until everything changed when he contracted Covid-19.
To Olivia and his children, enduring the restrictions brought about by lockdown, it was a time of utter devastation. A decision was taken to admit him to the NI Hospice where, thanks to the incredible care he received, and surrounded by the love of his family, he managed to get back his dignity.
On May 17, in his sixty-eighth year, Gerry passed on to his eternal reward.
He is survived and sadly missed by his wife, children and sisters Pat and Monica.
