PRIEST’S PLEA AT TEARFUL FAREWELL TO EPPIE
Hundreds mourn loss of ‘beautiful, stunning, sensitive’ 24-year-old
MOURNERS at the packed funeral Mass of 24-year-old Foulksmills woman Eppie Frost in Clongeen on Saturday were urged to have the courage to seek help if they are going through a mental health crisis.
‘Eppie, you had a pure heart and you were a beautiful child. None of us want to be here. We cannot solve all of the angst and all of the questions. We have all been touched by this beautiful young lady who had a generous and a magnanimous heart. We pray for everybody who is affected by mental health issues: may they have courage to seek help and may they know they are always loved.’
These were the words of Fr Michael Doyle at the funeral of the hugely popular woman, who was described as a ‘beautiful, stunning, sensitive lady’.
Fr Doyle told mourners at one of the biggest funerals in the area in recent times, that everyone in the area was heartbroken when news of Eppie’s sudden passing broke three days previously.
HUNDREDS of mourners filled St Aidan’s Church in Clongeen and lined the winding path leading down to the old church on Saturday to bid a final farewell to Epona (Eppie) Frost, who died tragically young, aged 24, three days previously.
Described by Fr Michael Doyle as a beautiful, stunning, sensitive lady, Eppie, of Longraigue, Foulksmills, is the beloved daughter of Ingrid and John; and a sister of Tadhg, Darragh, Oynie, Jack and Jimmy and partner of Sean. Huge crowds attended the family’s house in the days following the news of her death, which shocked the close knit communities of Foulksmills and Clongeen. Eppie attended St Leonards NS and went on to Ramsgrange Community School. She was a hard working young lady who always had a summer job, working in the Templar’s Inn in her teenage years before going on to pursue a career in beauty therapy. Her remains were carried into St Aidan’s Church by family members in a wicker coffin as Bob Marley’s Redemption Song played at one of the biggest funerals the community had witnessed in recent times. Sobs of grief could be heard from the congregation as young people tried to come to terms with their loss.
Fr Doyle said Eppie was a woman of great grace who had a wonderful smile. He said he got to know her over the years. ‘She would see me and we would have a chat at various times about what was going on in her life. She was someone who was very gentle, in a very sensitive and very beautiful way. It always struck me that she had a smidgen of rebelliousness about her.’
Fr Doyle said he was shocked and devastated to learn of Eppie’s tragic death. ‘I felt heartbroken as many of us do here, in Clongeen and also in Wexford and in many places where this beautiful young girl touched so many lives.’
He said it was as if nature was in sympathy with the community the previous night when persistent rain fell for the first time in many days, as mourners visited the family home.
Fr Doyle said Eppie was always surrounded by young people and said he wished she could have known how much she was loved by so many people. Eppie worked as a beauty therapist supervisor at Clayton White’s Hotel spa in Wexford. A talented masseuse and beautician, her colleagues attended her funeral Mass in numbers, as did members of St Kearns Rowing Club of which Eppie was a member. Family members brought gifts to the altar including a pair of Eppie’s high top runners, a Valentine’s card from her boyfriend Sean and a family photograph. Her brother Tadhg paid a moving tribute to his sister, saying she was a wonderful, independent minded person who was always very popular. He thanked the hundreds of people who have sympathised with the family over these past few difficult days. He described how Eppie was born born at home, on the grounds of Tintern Abbey, surrounded by her loving family and the family had her weighed on the vegetable scales in a local shop. Tadhg, who is a pilot, recalled taking his sister on a flight over south west Wexford less than a fortnight prior to her death, recalling how much she enjoyed it. A tomboy growing up, Eppie developed a love for beauty therapy in her teens and there wasn’t a girl in the wider Foulksmills area who hadn’t her nails painted or her eyebrows waxed by her over the years, Tadhg said. ‘She care for everyone and a lot of what she did she did through her hands.’
She was promoted to the role of supervisor in her job at Clayton White’s, where she was very popular with clients and staff alike. Tadhg said Eppie was continuously moving forward in life, through study, and was always focused on what she wanted to achieve. He said she had one fear relating to going backwards in life, but it was her motivation that started in school and continued through to college and through all the various courses and further education that she completed over the years, (she completed her latest reflexology exam only two weeks ago), that made her so unique and special. He spoke of a deep and loving relationship Eppie shared with Sean over the past four years. Tadhg invited mourners to join family members in taking turns to carry Eppie’s remains the half mile to Clongeen Cemetery where she was laid to rest, a request taken up by too many people to count. In his sermon, Fr Doyle encouraged people to reach out and to have a compassionate ear. ‘Eppie, you had a pure heart and you were a beautiful child. None of us want to be here. We cannot solve all of the angst and all of the questions. We have all been touched by this beautiful young lady who had a generous and a magnanimous heart. We pray for everybody who is affected by mental health issues: may they have courage to seek help and may they know they are always loved.’
Eppie is sadly missed by her family, by her grandmothers Rose and Marie; grandfather Terry; extended family, relatives and many friends.
EPPIE, YOU HAD A PURE HEART. WE PRAY FOR EVERYBODY WHO IS AFFECTED BY MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES. MAY THEY HAVE COURAGE TO SEEK HELP AND MAY THEY KNOW THEY ARE ALWAYS LOVED