5.2.04
Belfast Telegraph
Final farewell to tragic schoolboy Jordan
By Claire Regan
05 February 2004
Jordan Murdock who was swept out to see last month
TEENAGER Jordan Murdock, who drowned in the Irish Sea, was a good young man with "a love of life and a mischievous smile", hundreds of mourners heard at his funeral today.
The 14-year-old's devastated family said a final farewell to him this morning as he was finally laid to rest in the Co Down village of Killough where he was swept out to sea on January 11.
Hundreds of mourners packed into St Joseph's Church for Requiem Mass where Fr Kieran Whiteford paid tribute to the teenager.
He also spoke of the heartbreak for Jordan's parents, Paul McGeown and Carrie Murdock, their agonising wait for news and their relief when Jordan's body was found three weeks after he fell off a pier.
"When Jordan was lost in the sea everyone in this small village of Killough was profoundly shocked," he told mourners.
"A massive rescue operation swung into motion immediately and people prayed.
"In the cold January days, hope of finding Jordan alive quickly ebbed away and we prayed for the recovery of his body, and for Paul and Carrie and their family. Twenty-one very long days of waiting, searching, praying passed for Carrie and Paul and the people of this parish until Jordan's body was found last Sunday.
"That day, in spite of the tragedy and the tears there was a joy in the faces of our people."
Fr Whiteford said the tragedy marked the first accidental drowning in Killough Bay in living memory.
"Jordan, by all accounts, was a good young man. He was a bright pupil, good at football and Gaelic, lively, adventurous, with a love of life and sometimes had a mischievous smile.
"Of course, we know only too well that you cannot put an old head on young shoulders and with a simple sense of boyish adventure, a 14-year-old boy, Jordan Murdock, was attracted to the sea, on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon. He went near to the water's edge with friends and he slipped into the water and the water took his life."
Among those expected to attend today's funeral were many of the hundreds of the volunteers who searched the coastline for Jordan's body after he disappeared.
Final farewell to tragic schoolboy Jordan
By Claire Regan
05 February 2004
Jordan Murdock who was swept out to see last month
TEENAGER Jordan Murdock, who drowned in the Irish Sea, was a good young man with "a love of life and a mischievous smile", hundreds of mourners heard at his funeral today.
The 14-year-old's devastated family said a final farewell to him this morning as he was finally laid to rest in the Co Down village of Killough where he was swept out to sea on January 11.
Hundreds of mourners packed into St Joseph's Church for Requiem Mass where Fr Kieran Whiteford paid tribute to the teenager.
He also spoke of the heartbreak for Jordan's parents, Paul McGeown and Carrie Murdock, their agonising wait for news and their relief when Jordan's body was found three weeks after he fell off a pier.
"When Jordan was lost in the sea everyone in this small village of Killough was profoundly shocked," he told mourners.
"A massive rescue operation swung into motion immediately and people prayed.
"In the cold January days, hope of finding Jordan alive quickly ebbed away and we prayed for the recovery of his body, and for Paul and Carrie and their family. Twenty-one very long days of waiting, searching, praying passed for Carrie and Paul and the people of this parish until Jordan's body was found last Sunday.
"That day, in spite of the tragedy and the tears there was a joy in the faces of our people."
Fr Whiteford said the tragedy marked the first accidental drowning in Killough Bay in living memory.
"Jordan, by all accounts, was a good young man. He was a bright pupil, good at football and Gaelic, lively, adventurous, with a love of life and sometimes had a mischievous smile.
"Of course, we know only too well that you cannot put an old head on young shoulders and with a simple sense of boyish adventure, a 14-year-old boy, Jordan Murdock, was attracted to the sea, on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon. He went near to the water's edge with friends and he slipped into the water and the water took his life."
Among those expected to attend today's funeral were many of the hundreds of the volunteers who searched the coastline for Jordan's body after he disappeared.
