The death has occurred of:
Joseph MARTIN
Acknowledgement – Joseph Martin, of Arleston Drive, Omagh, Died 20th August 2023.
We, the family of the late Joseph Martin, would like to express our deep appreciation and heartfelt thanks to all those who sympathised with us, prayed for and supported us through our recent sad bereavement. Joe was a dearly loved husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend and supportive colleague to many.
We would like to acknowledge gratefully all those who sent Mass or sympathy cards, letters, and donations in lieu of flowers to Care for Cancer and Marie Curie.
We greatly appreciate that so many family friends and colleagues from the many different facets of Joe’s life came to pay their respects at the family home for the wake, or attended the requiem Mass, including neighbours, church communities, the Western Education and Library Board, the South West College and the Christian Brothers Grammar School, as well as from Tyrone GAA. Special thanks to the Naomh Éanna an Ómaigh CLG which facilitated transport to the wake and to all who helped us in so many ways to grieve as a family.
A special word of thanks to Father Kevin McElhennon PP and to Joe’s brother Father Michael Martin for the comforting requiem Mass and for their spiritual support throughout Joe’s illness. We would also like to express our gratitude to Joe’s longtime friends Father Eugene Hassan PP from the neighbouring Drumragh Parish and to Fathers Declan and Eugene Boland of Strabane Parish.
We convey our appreciation also to the sacristan and everyone who took part in the liturgy, especially readers, the organist Paul Pritchard and the members of the choir of St. Mary’s Church, Killyclogher who very kindly fulfilled Joe’s wish for congregational singing at the requiem. Our thanks too go to Colleen Conway, guitarist and singer, and Peter McKenna, uilleann piper, for the meaningful music at the graveside.
We thank Peter O’Kane, funeral director, for the dignified and professional manner in which the funeral arrangements were carried out, and to the gravedigger for preparing Joe’s final resting place. Our thanks also to the staff at McGinns, the Village Inn in Killyclogher, for the refreshments after the funeral.
Our profound thanks as a family are extended to the many outstanding healthcare professionals from the Western Health and Social Services Trust including the District Nurses and Community Carers who facilitated Joe’s wish to be cared for at home. We are also hugely grateful to the team at the Marie Curie charity and Care for Cancer in Omagh, and to the many members of Joe’s extended family and circle of friends for the very high quality and quantity of dedicated care he received particularly in his final weeks.
We also pay tribute to the staff at the North West Cancer Centre in Altnagelvin including specifically Joe’s consultant, Dr Hossam Abdulkhalek, as well as the Macmillan nurses, for their professionalism, encouragement, care and kindness every step of the way of his cancer journey. We are forever grateful.
As it would be impossible to thank everyone individually, please accept this acknowledgement as a gesture of our family’s deepest gratitude.
Joseph is ever loved and sadly missed. May his gentle, generous soul be granted eternal rest. His Month’s Mind Mass will be celebrated in St Mary’s Church, Killyclogher on Wednesday 4 October at 10am. Those attending are invited to join the family for light refreshments afterwards in McGinns, the Village Inn, Killyclogher.