Moving tributes paid to a Tipperary gentleman who was blessed with so many wonderful gifts
The late John Rossiter
In a moving ceremony on Monday morning at the Church of the Resurrection in Clonmel, family, neighbours and friends bid a sad farewell to the late John Rossiter.
The funeral Mass of the late 94-year-old John, of Powerstown Road, Clonmel was celebrated on Monday morning by Canon Brendan Crowley.
John, beloved husband of Peg, father of Elizabeth, John and Jane, grandfather of Alice, Julia, Kilian, Lucy, Jan, Adam and Ryan, great-grandfather of Alma, passed away on March 5 at Tipperary University Hospital.
His family were originally from Wexford and John was born in Clonmel on The Quay. He was the only child of Patrick and Elizabeth (Lacey).
John was a master electrician who set up his own business in Clonmel in the 60s.
He did his apprenticeship and worked with Cronins, near the West Gate, before he went out on his own.
John and Peg were married almost 69 years ago.
“We met out on the mountains,” said Peg who was one of the founding members of An Oige in the town.
Canon Crowley told the congregation on Monday morning that both John and Peg were very much part of the Church of the Resurrection family.
John was a reader at Mass every Tuesday at the Church of the Resurrection and John was also very involved with the Clonmel Historical Society and Probus.
His two daughters, Elizabeth and Jane, and son John, paid moving tributes to their beloved father during the ceremony.
They told the congregation about the person their father was and the memories they and all their family had of joyous moments together while hiking, travelling and undertaking projects that John would set about in his own meticulous way.
Elizabeth spoke of how often her father would speak about how wonderfully rich his family and extended family made him feel.
John described his father as a very generous person whose interest in encouraging and enabling others was among his wide ranging gifts and talents.
John said they would all have very special memories of their father, the excitement that would take hold of him as he embarked on another new project and his quirky and at times irreverent sense of humour.
Jane said she had wonderful memories of hiking with her father in the mountains near Clonmel. She would remember a man who was so deeply proud of his grandchildren, as a man of creativity in so many forms, a man of patience and persistence who never sought out the quick fix to anything. The family expressed their deepest gratitude to neighbours, friends and staff of South Tipperary University Hospital for the wonderful support and care of their father.