"Those who never loved and were never loved, never lived. Those who loved and were loved never really die," Mitchell Wax, cantor and old friend of Paul Goldin's said at the latters's funeral service in Dublin yesterday. Mr Wax was quoting his own mother. Paul Goldin died in Dublin on Wednesday.
They had been friends for 66 years. "Paul asked me to take this service," Mr Wax told the packed congregation. It was a Jewish service, parts of it in Hebrew. "Paul's Jewishness was not really orthodox.....but his consciousness of his Jewish identity was very strong," he said.
Earlier, the funeral party had followed the coffin into the Unitarian Church on St Stephen's Green as the Vard sisters sang Going Home.
Rev Bridget Spain, assistant minister at the church, welcomed everyone. She explained that Unitarians "welcome people of all faiths and of none. All are on the one journey towards the one God." She said religion in Ireland used be along Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter lines. "We were Dissenters. It is appropriate Paul's funeral service is here, as he was a Dissenter himself."
Mr Wax recited Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd, in Hebrew and English. Miriam Ahern read a eulogy by Paul Goldin's daughter, Katie-Jane. "My idol, my hero, my inspiration, and my heart...I will miss you always. You will stay in my heart forever." Dickie Rock sang My Forever Love, followed by a DVD of "magic moments" in the deceased's life.
His son, Ricky, spoke of how his father's death had been a surprise. He recalled how they used to joke that life should be lived backwards, with the first day at work beginning with the presentation of a gold watch, all the way back to childhood and the "big bang" with which all lives begin. He called for a last round of applause which "might send him on his way".
Red Hurley sang Be Not Afraid and the three sons, David, Bobby, and Ricky, chanted the Kadesh. It was followed by Adele King (Twink) who spoke of the "charming, witty, charismatic man" that was Paul Goldin, whose 80th birthday would have been on April 15th.
The remains were removed from the church to the strains of An Cualann, played on the uileann pipes by Tommy Keane.
Chief mourners were Paul Goldin's wife Helen, daughters Katie-Jane, Joanna and Sarah, sons David, Bobby and Ricky. The Taoiseach was represented by Capt Michael Treacy. Also present were author Cecilia Ahern, magicians Barry Sinclair and Keith Barry, Alan Amsby, oboe player David Agnew, and many more from the world of showbusiness. The remains were taken to Mount Jerome crematorium.
