Family's heartbreak as tragic boy is laid to rest
EMOTIONAL scenes greeted the cortege carrying the coffin of six-year-old Stuart Wilson who died after a tragic accident on Cranfield beach.
As hundreds lined the streets of Rathfriland, many mourners were visibly distressed when the hearse arrived at St John's Parish Church for his funeral.
Stuart, described as a little boy with a 'sense of fun', had been struck by a speedboat last week as he was being towed on a wake board. He suffered severe head injuries and lost his battle for life on Thursday.
Mourners, led by his father and mother, Gary and Heather, and his older siblings, brother Gareth and sisters Ashleen and Hanna, heard the Rev David Somerville pay tribute to those who battled to try and save the little boy's life.
Rev Somerville said: "Stuart Wilson was a wee treasure. He was the child you noticed in a crowd; the one whose name everyone knew. He was full of life and lived life to the full.
"When I called at his parent's home he'd be there bringing me a painting he'd done in school or offering me a piece of his mummy's shortbread to go with a cup of tea. If the truth were told he was much more interested in his computer games or whatever was on Cbeebies than in sitting quietly on the settee talking to the minister," he said.
"When he came to church with his family he was always up like a flash for the children's talk and he kept an interested eye on the bag of chocolate bars, no doubt wondering when I would give-over and start giving them out."
He said Stuart had loved sport, especially football and he played with the juniors at the football club in Iveagh Park.
"He came into his own for school sports days. He could run like the wind. Gary said you could hardly catch him around the house and he was never off the go.
"At home there was a myriad of sports equipment and he played with all of them in turn. He would shout "Granny, Granny wait till you see this" as he did a somersault on the trampoline. He had no fear.
"He battered the lawn with his little golf clubs and took the light from his granny's eyes as he kicked up stones round her shins skidding his bicycle in a semicircle at her feet.
"He loved anything to do with water – whether it was boating or getting a ride on the back of a jet-ski and he lived for his annual summer breaks in the mobile home at Cranfield. The family will feel very differently about that much loved place from now on," said the minster.
"As I sat with the Wilsons in the family room off the paediatric intensive care unit I could see the family strength that was holding them together."
The Rev Somerville paid tribute to those on the beach at Cranfield who pulled Stuart from the water, the doctor and nurse who administered first aid on the beach and all the medical staff at Daisy Hill and Royal Victoria Hospitals.
"Even those case hardened professionals who deal with life and death situations day and daily were softened by the plight of a little boy whose life was hanging on by a thread."
Stuart was laid to rest in the graveyard next to the church.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
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Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
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