Sad passing of Pettigo farmer and award-winning film subject, Owney McGoldrick

Sympathy has been extended after the sad passing of Owney McGoldick, who was recently the subject of an award-winning short film entitled Echoes of a Lifetime.

Echoes of an Irish Lifetime was a debut film by Owney’s niece, Frances Maguire, which has won eight international awards and has been selected to screen at six international film festivals, and focused on the life of Owney and his farm in Pettigo. 

His Funeral Mass took place on September 30 at St Joseph’s Chapel, Lettercran.

Owney, who passed at the age of 94, was born and raised in Lettercran and spent his life working along the rural Donegal and Tyrone border.  

In Maguire’s poignant film, Owney gave fruitful life advice. He said: “Life is a gift and we open it every single day.

“We didn’t have much growing up, but we had enough, and enough was plenty.

“You only get one life, and it goes faster than you think.

“I may not be as strong as I was, but I still wake up grateful, and that is enough for me.

“You don’t have to remember my name, just remember to leave while you can, love while you can, and leave the world a little tenderer than you found it.”

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The border community, Ederney Community Development Trust, praised Owney for a life “marked by humility, hard work, and gratitude for life’s quiet blessings,” and was “a lifelong farmer whose gentle wisdom and quiet resilience came to embody the spirit of rural Donegal.”

They commented: “A man of few words but infinite depth, he tended his land with devotion and lived simply, surrounded by the fields, hills, and skies he cherished.

“Owney was known locally as a man of few words, but when he spoke, his stories carried warmth, wit, and wisdom. His advice was simple but profound: to slow down, to look around, and to appreciate the world’s small and fleeting wonders. His presence was steady and reassuring, rooted in the land he loved and the community that loved him in return.”

Owen (Owney) McGoldrick was the beloved uncle of Mairead (Sean), Patrick (Pauline), Helena (Paddy), Brigene, Frances (Jason), Yvonne (Declan), and his many more nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Predeceased by his parents, Owen and Bridget, his brother Packie John and James Joseph (Dodie), his sisters Bridget (Bidgie), Cassie and Agnes (Aggie). Sadly missed by his sister Sarah Mary, and Margaret Ellen, and sister-in-law Rosie.