THE FUNERAL has taken place of Richard Harman, one of the men who died following a boating accident off west Cork last Monday. He was described as a man who loved people, nature and the rugged Beara Peninsula.
Mourners spilled out on to the front steps of the Church of St Brendan the Navigator in Bantry for Mr Harman’s funeral service at 2pm. Tributes were paid to a man with a rich sense of local knowledge, culture and a great appreciation of the landscape.
Mr Harman, due to celebrate his 70th birthday next week, died alongside his friends Wolfgang “Mike” Schmidt (70) and Wolfgang Schröder (62) after their 25ft motor cruiser caught fire off Roancarraig Lighthouse by Berehaven Bay on Monday evening.
Described as a cornerstone of the Glengarriffe community and a man who loved people, Harman engaged with others on a deep and meaningful level.
A “character” who carved his own path through life, Harman possessed qualities that were rarely matched, according to a tribute delivered at the service by local Councillor Noel Harrington.
“That was one thing about Richard; he never did bother much with the script. Whatever path he took he chose it himself and followed it with an optimism and passion rarely equalled,” he said.
His interests spanned a range of topics, from literature to languages, angling to politics and he garnered significant knowledge and wisdom from his parents and generations past. Perhaps most notably, he loved the natural unspoilt beauty of the west Cork landscape.
Emphatic and endearing, Mr Harman had the ability to engage with strangers as if they were lifelong friends and he gleaned much enjoyment from such encounters.
“Richard’s passion was meeting people, friends old and new. Listening to their stories, telling his own. Now he is united with his people and I’m sure he will be spinning a few yarns where he is,” Mr Harrington said.
Rev Paul Willoughby, who presided over the service, extended sympathies to the Schröder and Schmidt families and said that it was a time to rejoice and celebrate the life of Richard Harman, as misery would not honour his memory.
He described Harman as a “gregarious and wonderful man” who possessed a great richness of character. “He was always about the stories and fun; he had a great Celtic wisdom. He was a rich man for all the right reasons,” Rev Willoughby said. For Harman to meet his end in Bantry Bay was “poignant, apt and suitable,” he said. Chief among the mourners were Mr Harman’s two sons, Richard and Willy, brothers Bill and Bob and sister Maureen.
The funeral cortege left the town to travel west following the funeral service, where Mr Harman was laid to rest at the Old Cemetery in Adrigole.