Memorial Mass for Nenagh native Shaun Paul Brady fatally shot in US
Nenagh begins the New Year on the saddest of notes as the remains of our much-loved native, Shaun Paul Brady - brutally shot dead in Kansas just over four months ago - arrive home for interment.
Shaun Paul’s wife Kate, and his two children Seamus (13) and Mary, whose 10th birthday was on Christmas Day, flew from Kansas within the past week, bringing with them his ashes for interment in Lisboney New Lawn Cemetery this coming Saturday, following a Memorial Mass for Shaun in Saint Mary of the Rosary Church at 12 noon.
The Chief Celebrant will be Parish Priest, Fr Pat Gilbert, the cleric who made international news and won widespread admiration just a little over a year ago for the manner in which he officiated at the funeral ceremony in the same church of The Pogues singer and songwriter, Shane MacGowan.
Just like back then, Shaun Paul Brady’s ceremony is expected to attract a large crowd of friends, family and other mourners, many still reeling over how his future was so criminally robbed in the prime of his life.
News of the brutal killing of the 45-year-old Nenagh man outside his restaurant in Kansas City on August 28 last sparked shock and revulsion on both sides of the Atlantic.
Shaun Paul, described by his family and friends as someone who always tried to do the right thing, sustained multiple gunshot wounds close to his restaurant after he apparently confronted a number of people who were attempting to steal a car.
A highly talented chef, Shaun Paul often recalled how he fell in love with the culinary arts while cooking as a young boy with his mother, Mary, in Nenagh.
Speaking to The Guardian, Mary now says she wishes to extend an invitation to everyone who would like to attend her son’s Memorial Mass and interment ceremonies this Saturday.
She revealed that this was not the kind of homecoming welcome she and her family in Nenagh had been planning for Shaun.
“Shaun Paul had not been home to Nenagh for seven years,” she said.
“But he had planned to come home a number of months ago - he had even purchased his air ticket.”
His US-born wife and their two children were in Nenagh for a holiday in July, just weeks before Shaun Paul was killed.
But now - and tragically in hindsight - Shaun Paul was unable to travel with his family at that particular time due to work commitments.
FOND MEMORIES
Over the past number of days, the Brady family in Nenagh got to spend a good deal of time recalling fond memories of Shaun Paul with his wife and children, who have since returned home to Kansas, leaving his ashes in the care of his mother and three siblings, Vivian, Sandra and Damien.
With memorial ceremonies already having taken place in Kansas shortly after Shaun Paul’s killing just over four months ago, facing the sadness and trauma of further funeral ceremonies in Nenagh would be just too much to bear for children so young.
But while this coming Saturday Mass will reignite painful memories, it will also be an opportunity for Mary and her three remaining adult children and other relations in Nenagh to share and hear stories from friends here about Shaun Paul’s life.
“He had lots of school friends in and around Nenagh, and he was still in touch with some of them,” said Mary, who added that he also had some good friends in Dublin having worked as a chef in restaurants in the capital in the early years of his career.
Despite many years away, Shaun Paul still maintained firm links with Nenagh.
Taking pride of place in the Brady & Fox Restaurant and Lounge in Kansas City, which he co-owned with his friend Graham Ferris, was a photograph featuring an old and well-known Nenagh character, Richie Chadwick, as he passed the Brady household beside the Military Barracks in Summerhill on his customary mode of transport - a horse and cart.
Shaun Paul was educated at Saint Mary’s Boys National School and the Christian Brothers schools in Summerhill.
LOVE OF COOKING
Recalling his love for cooking and baking from a young age, Mary told how Shaun Paul decided to attend cookery classes in the all-girls Saint Mary’s Secondary School as there were none on offer in the CBS.
“He was passionate about all he did and passionate about his cooking. He had a flair for it from a very young age,” Mary recalled.
On the tragic fate of her son, she said: “What happened him is desperate, and there is no answer to any of it. Even to get it right in your head - you can’t. It’s like you’re living someone else’s life.
“It’s horrific - and I know the whole town was shocked over it. I can even still see the devastation in people’s faces.
“Shaun Paul was a real giver. I heard so many good stories about him from people in Kansas when we attended a big celebration of his life in the city in September - great stories that I would never have known. You would not believe some of the stories I heard.
“The community over there really came together and showed real support and care after Shaun Paul died. They could not have done more - and they are still continuing to give. We do really appreciate all of that.”
As the long process continues to seek justice for Shaun Paul, Mary says she and her family now have to live every day with the terrible wrench of a much-loved son and brother taken so brutally. “We have a long road ahead of us,” she said.