Ice cream van convoy as NI’s ‘King of Cones’ is laid to rest
A FLEET of ice cream vehicles took part in a poignant convoy yesterday behind the coffin of a respected colleague dubbed ‘King of the Cones’.
John Dunbar was a well-known face to thousands of tourists and locals on the north coast where his van had a permanent pitch in Portrush.
He had worked in the trade for more than four decades and was based in the East Strand car park in the seaside resort in recent years.
Always with a smile on his face, Mr Dunbar served dozens of cones to customers every day.
However, he took ill last summer, and passed away on Sunday, aged in his mid-60s.
Mr Dunbar, from Bushmills, was buried yesterday with his own ice cream van — bearing the name of the family business ‘Dunbar & Sons’ — leading nine vans following behind his hearse.
Several of the ice cream vendors who turned up to pay tribute to their colleague were driving vans sold to them by Mr Dunbar.
The chimes of the ice cream vans were silenced as colleagues joined the procession from Mr Dunbar’s home at Eagry Park, close to the world-famous Old Bushmills Distillery.
Sadly, it was the second time a convoy of ice cream vans had paid tribute to a member of the Dunbar family.
Several years ago one of Mr Dunbar’s sons Paul (29) — also an ice cream man — passed away after illness.
Friends said John Dunbar had visited his son’s grave every day. Yesterday, mourners gathered again at the family home, this time to pay their respects to John.
One onlooker said: “John Dunbar had been working in the industry most of his adult life and was one of the longest-serving ice cream men on the north coast. It was a really poignant scene to see the ice cream vans silently rolling behind the coffin here in Bushmills, but a lovely tribute all the same”.
John Dunbar, who is survived by his wife Rosemary and son Nick, was buried in the adjoining churchyard at Dunseverick Parish Church after a funeral service.
Ice cream van owners travelled from Ballycastle and Coleraine. Close friend Harry Douthart, from Ballycastle, paid tribute to Mr Dunbar remembering him as “a real gentleman”.
He added: “He would have helped anyone and was well known and well-respected in the trade.
“He worked for more than 40 years and would have visited me in my home every week. He will be sadly missed.” Ice cream van driver Karen Carton, from Coleraine, whose vehicle is stationed in the Lansdowne car park in Portrush, a short distance from where Mr Dunbar used to work, said: “John was a very, very kind man who always asked after everybody. He was always smiling, he would have been the ‘king of the cones’.”
John Dunbar was a man well know to thousands of tourists who visit Portrush annually. For he was always to be found selling ice-cream from his van at the East Strand car park. Yesterday that van was again on the move, but this time heading up a fleet of similar vehicles following Mr Dunbar’s funeral hearse.
It was a fitting tribute by other members of the trade to the man they dubbed ‘King of the Cones’ given his four decades in business. For once the chimes of the vans were silent, but they were not needed to summon people to the service. Mr Dunbar was highly respected in the area and by his fellow vendors who will miss a man they called a real gent.