Son of tourist killed in road crash says 'we've a lot to learn from the Irish'

Irish Daily Mirror

2 days ago

The family of a Canadian woman who was killed in a road traffic collision while on holiday in Ireland has thanked the Irish public for the 'kindness' shown to them in the wake of the tragedy.
Helen Valks, 73, was cycling on the L3180 at Toonagh in Tulla, Co Clare, when she was struck by a tractor at around 12.45pm on Saturday, May 24.
She was pronounced dead at the scene and her body was taken to University Hospital Limerick for a postmortem examination.
Helen, who worked as nurse until until retirement in 2013, was cycling across Ireland with her husband Henry 'Henk' Valks, 77, when the tragic incident occurred.
Following the tragedy, Helen's children Jeff and Rachel travelled to Ireland to be by their father's side. The family have said they have been left "overwhelmed" by the kindness and generosity shown to them by the Irish public as they grieved Helen's death.
In a message shared on his mother's Facebook page, Jeff wrote: "I just wanted to thank you all for the kind messages to dad and the rest of us. The story became national news here, and the response—well, it's truly beyond words.
"The random acts of kindness and compassion from the Irish people we've met in the last few days has left us in tears more times than we care to count.
"Everyone wants to help in some way, and the generosity has been overwhelming."
Jeff spoke to Canada's national public broadcaster, CBC Radio, to discuss his mother's legacy and share stories of the compassion shown to them by the people they met in Ireland in the wake of the tragedy.
"My joke with the Irish was [that] as Canadians, we all think we're really polite and caring people, but we've got a lot to learn from the Irish," Jeff said.
"From the minute it happened to the minute my sister Rachel and my brother-in-law Kevin got there, the hotel staff made sure that my dad wasn't alone. He had everything he needed.
"When we walked in the door they knew our names. They had tears in their eyes, they were giving us hugs.
"We had an officer assigned to us from the Gardai, his name is Rob and he grieved with us, and he was with us the whole way.
"His parents were the same age as my parents, so he had a bit of a kinship about that, and everywhere you went, somebody wanted to do something for you."
Jeff went on to share a story of a kind-hearted construction worker who offered to help the family as they mourned Helen's death.
He said: "There was a construction worker as we were walking into a funeral home, and I've worked in construction briefly, and I just kind of laughed and said, 'hey, it's a good day to be outside', and it's pouring rain, so he kind of laughs, and says, 'how's your day going?'.
"And I told him the story very briefly, and I started to choke up, and he started to choke up - and this is just a random construction worker laying bricks on the street - and he stopped in his tracks and said, 'what can I do for you? Can I do anything for you?' What do you need?'.
"Friends here in Canada who have family in Ireland were offering us ride places. It was just above and beyond."
Jeff continued: "The Bunratty Manor where we were staying, the host Noel Wallace, he was always by our sides. Breakfast, dinner, 'What do you need? What can I get for you?' A laugh, a hug, whatever he could do.
"And that was true of everywhere we went in Ireland. It was unbelievable. It brought my family and my father to tears, myself included, many, many times.
John shared a story of a touching gesture shown to them by a bus driver who had learned of the family's tragedy.
"When we were taking the bus back to Ireland, we had one night in Ireland before the flight, and the driver of that shuttle bus got wind of it," Jeff recalled.
"This is the public shuttle bus, and he kind of got wind of our story, and he had tears in his eyes and he said, 'you give me your cell phone number, here's mine, I will pick you up, and I will personally bring you to the airport in the morning anytime you want'.
"And sure enough, there he was five minutes before we said we needed to be out, he was right there, ready to go. It was just unbelievable."
Jeff accompanied his mother Helen's body back to Canada and her funeral is due to be held at Holy Angels' Church inSt. Thomas, Ontario at 1pm on Friday.