Eulogy by friend captures Damien Blake's friendship, love, wit and courage

Damien Blake’s longtime friend Bernard McCloskey delivered a beautiful, touching eulogy at the funeral Mass in the Church of Mary Immaculate, Stranorlar on Friday.

Bernard recalled transferring to St Eunan’s College in Fifth Year, and meeting Damien for the first time. Administrator Eilish Masterson had selected Damien to show the new student around, having felt that they had a lot in common.

“How she knew that we both had a deep love for karaoke with no ability to sing whatsoever I don't know! he said.

Bernard acknowledged that Ms Masterson had been right about mutual interests, but added: “We operated on very different levels.

“At 16 I thought myself quite tech savvy, fixing computers and selling bits and bobs but I met Damien and he already had a business established for three years doing websites and he was expanding out into hosting and digital design.

“I thought I was into music because I had a couple of vinyls but Damien had equipment that I'd never seen before like CD mixers and he was doing gigs in the Pulse nightclub and down in the Oasis bar.”

Bernard spoke of how conversations with Damien could jump from the Chinese economy to Joe Duffy, from AI to Jessica Fletcher and the goings-on at Cabot Cove.  

“Where he got his love for Murder She Wrote I really don't know,” said Bernard. “But a lot of his interests and a lifelong devotion to Bruce Springsteen I think he got from his parents who he got the best traits from - Denise and Laurence.

“I'm not going to suggest where he got his stubbornness … sorry, I mean he would say determination, but the best example of it that I can think of is, I was visiting their house for well over a year before I realised that Damien’s younger brother was actually called Ian. I'd only ever heard him referred to as Bob and that was because Damien for some reason decided that he should be called Bob and through just perseverance alone everyone else changed as well and only he could do that.”

Bernard referred to the many stories that had been shared as people from different areas of Damien’s life came together over the last few days, and of his many achievements. 

He quipped: “I don't know if anyone here knows Damien was actually the youngest councillor ever elected and the youngest Mayor - he never talked about it!

“But what I felt was most impressive about Damien was his friendship. Above all, Damien valued people and he couldn't do enough for them.

Bernard told how, one Christmas night the pair were out in the Grill nightclub in Letterkenny with a friend, Andrew Clark who was teaching English in Japan. He said he was going to put on a St Patrick’s Day parade, and asked Bernard and Damien to go to Japan and help.

“We said of course, but the next morning I had no memory of that,” said Bernard. “But Damien remembered and Damien went into planning mode. And at the end of the week he sent me an itinerary and a task list and the trip to Japan happened.

“And it was a really an amazing experience right up to the point where Andrew said to us, ‘oh yeah I also said that you guys could do an Irish dancing lesson for everyone.’

“Damien had many skills but no one would accuse Irish dancing being among them. My most enduring memory is always going to be looking out at 800 bewildered Japanese people dancing along to the Birdie Song down to our great direction.”

Bernard spoke of how Damien and his wife Mary were well-matched and a great team. 

“Damien would have been the first person to say that all his success and achievements weren't just down to her support but to her collaboration,” he said. 

Bernard told those gathered that Damien’s greatest achievement was Ríain. 

Addressing Damien’s son directly, he said: “Your father was very, very proud of you and excited for your future. You've got his wit and a sense of humour and there's an independent streak as well.”

Bernard said he was not going to dwell on his friend’s illness, because that was something that Damien never did himself. 

“There was never any anger or self-pity and from the first diagnosis, all of his focus and energy and thoughts were spent on Ríain and Mary, making sure that they were always going to be okay.

“And I'm sure everyone here today is going to make sure that happens.”