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HUNDREDS OF MOURNERS gathered this morning in Irishtown for the funeral of Samuel Small, who died in a workplace accident 10 days ago.
Samuel – or Sam, as he was known – was a South African native who had lived and worked in Ireland for over 15 years. He worked with Builders Hoists, a construction equipment rental company.
Sam died on Friday 12 December, at the age of 45, following a workplace accident at a construction site at the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend.
Over 250 people packed into St. Matthew’s church to hear Sam’s service, which was attended by members of his family, colleagues and friends, and a large number of locals from the Ringsend and Irishtown communities, after an appeal was shared widely on social media.
The appeal asked people to gather at the funeral in order to give him a “proper Ringsend send off”, as many of Sam’s relatives couldn’t travel from overseas. The community answered the call, and the church was packed with mourners.
Before the funeral began, people gathered outside on the grey, overcast morning. Members of the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club – of which Sam was an enthusiastic and longstanding member – formed a guard of honour at the entrance, holding aloft four painted oars as his coffin was carried inside.
Members of Sam’s immediate and extended family were present at the service, including his sister and other relatives. His mother and father both honoured their son in written tributes that were read out at the end of the service, and watched the funeral online, from England and Cape Town respectively.
Sam’s uncle – the Reverend William Small, from the Anglican Church of St Andrew on the Costa del Sol in Spain – conducted the service together with local Canon Leonard Ruddock.
The ceremony was filled with hymns, songs and readings, and rounds of applause given to Sam and those who spoke about him.
Tributes were paid to Sam throughout the service. First in reflections by his uncle, Reverend Small, and later by his sister, his parents, extended family members, and his close friends and colleagues.
The picture that emerged was of a fun, friendly, caring and highly capable man, who loved to sail on the open sea, to create things with his hands, and to joke and dance. A man who had been through a lot in his life, but who had never lost the capacity to forgive and love those around him.
“We are all connected to each other,” Reverend Small said in his reflections.
“All of us. And we are all connected to God through his magnificent creation and through his love. And we see this in Sam’s life. Just look around you. All of you here today to celebrate his life.
“We see it in his passion for sailing. His passion of his work. His passion for being on the open sea.
He dedicated his his life to this love. To this adventure. Not just doing what he did, going where he went, but by being who he was.
In written remarks dedicated to his son, Sam’s father Rob, said:
“Samuel also had a talent for dancing. When dancing he was like a force of nature in his movements. Like someone who could fly. I was in awe by how light he was on his feet and the beauty of his movements.
“Samuel never lied, to the best of my knowledge. He always told the truth as he saw it. I deeply respected this about him and the man that he became.
He had a big heart and easily let people in. While never mistrusting anyone.
In written remarks, Sam’s mother, Sara-Lea, said he was the “most unique person” who had “always risen up to the challenge” of life.
Sam’s sister, Kirsten, also paid tribute to her brother in words and song. As did his close friends Karl and Gerry, his workmates and extended family.
After the service, as Sam’s body was carried out of the church in its coffin, and one last rousing round of applause went up from the mourners, paying tribute to the “gentle giant” whose life was tragically cut short.
Sam Small is survived by his father Rob and mother Sara-Lea, his sisters Kirsten and Cierewyn, and his brothers Rupert and Cian, and his extended family and friends.
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