MRS Brown star Dermot O’Neill revealed how his late wife Chickie planned her own funeral with karaoke afterwards to lift the mood.
The grieving actor spoke after the funeral service for his wife Patricia ‘Chickie’ O’Neill in Dardistown Crematorium, who died last week aged 60.
Sporting his trademark ponytail and supported with a walking stick, the grieving 74-year-old was comforted by mourners outside the funeral in north Dublin.
Chickie died of cancer last Monday, having only been given months to live earlier this year.
During the service, Chickie’s son Salvador recalled how his mum helped plan her own funeral, even sending off for an end of life planner, which arrived the day she died with, “Sorry it’s your problem now, because I’m dead”, on the cover.
Salavador told The Irish Sun: “That really made us laugh. That was my mum all over.”
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Each of Chickie’s four children paid tribute to her at the packed service, with sons Salvador and Evan and daughters Yolanda and Nicola speaking of their heartbreak at losing their mum.
They also told of their pride in “the massive turnout for her service which was a testament to how much she was loved” and “that the world had gotten a lot quieter” since her passing.
While husband Dermot was too emotional to speak at her funeral, he rose to his feet to touch her coffin before it passed through the doors at the end of the service.
Speaking after the service, Dermot revealed how fun-loving Chickie had wanted karaoke for mourners at her funeral reception in the nearby Kealy’s bar off the Swords Road.
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Dermot told The Irish Sun: “Chickie wanted people to have a good time even at her funeral. That was very much her personality. She was a joyful, warm person. I’m so sad she is gone.”
Mrs Brown co-star Paddy Houlihan, who was among the mourners, said he had never seen his longtime friend Dermot, whose nickname among the Mrs Brown cast is Bugsy, so shook.
Paddy told The Irish Sun: “I’ve known Bugsy for so many years and it’s the first time he doesn’t sound like Bugsy. He’s absolutely devastated. But everyone on Mrs Brown is there to support him.
“I know Brendan (O’Carroll) has been on the phone from Florida to Dermot a few times in the last few days. He will have a break now and all the cast are off until Mrs Brown starts shooting again in October.”
Rugby player Shane Byrne, who appeared in Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie as a Russian baddie, and is a longtime friend of the cast, also attended the service.
Dunnes Stores worker Chickie passed away on June 1 in St Francis Hospice Blanchardstown.
The Dublin grandmother only got a shock cancer diagnosis when she travelled to Spain in January to have a hernia removed.
However, Spanish surgeons told her they were unable to operate as they found several tumours in her stomach.
Chickie previously told The Irish Sun: “If I hadn’t have gone abroad, I’d never have known I had stage 4 cancer. Once they found it, the doctors wanted to send me to another hospital in Spain.
“They said I might not see my kids for a while. I told them I wanted to come back to Ireland, or I’d never see my kids again.”
The mum said one of the hardest things was breaking the news to her sons — Salvador, 39, and Evan, 24 — from her hospital bed at Beaumont.
Chickie added: “Dermot put his hand on my knee and both boys held each of my hands, and we all hugged and cried.”
Dermot revealed how Chickie had undergone treatment at Beaumont Hospital until being moved to St Francis Hospice Blanchardstown in the days before her passing.
He told us: “There was nothing more they could do for Chickie. She had a blockage in her heart that couldn’t be shifted and the chemo had stopped working.
