Kind, generous family man remembered

Simon O’Mahony was remembered as an “imaginative people person” in a service at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church last Friday.

The 31-year-old, born Aug. 16, 1977, passed away suddenly on Feb. 7. Kim Praill, O’Mahony’s girlfriend and the mother of his 7-month-old baby Sophie, described him as a passionate musician and dedicated family man.

“He was the most generous man, so generous, kind, always smiling, always wanting to talk to everyone, to fix everyone else’s problems, never concerned about himself,” Praill said through tears in an interview this week.

She said she was surprised to learn he suffered from a heart disease. “He always seized the day because he knew you never know what day will be your last,” she said. “I guess he knew something we didn’t.”

O’Mahony grew up as the son of a school teacher in small-town McLennan, Alberta, where he knew everyone and everyone knew him. “He was the class clown of everything,” Praill said.

That popularity followed him when he settled in Jasper. More than 250 people filled Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on Feb. 13 for O’Mahony’s funeral. Downstream Bar was packed to the brim with people during a fundraising event for the mother and daughter last Sunday night.

“It’s a pretty overwhelming feeling to know there’s that many people, they just knew him, for positive energy, somebody you could go have a beer with,” Praill said. “I will never face anything harder in my life than I’m doing right now and this town has pretty much been a backbone every day.”

Praill met O’Mahony here six years ago when the two were working at Source for Sports and he was on a break from logging up north. Since then, O’Mahony continued to work hard to support his family. 

“Just recently he had taken some jobs out of town, doing what he had to do to take care of us,” Praill said. “He was definitely dedicated to me and Sophie.”

Recently, O’Mahony had started taking his daughter for swimming lessons. “It was his favourite thing to do with her... he was just so proud of her,” Praill said.

Though moving forward seems impossible, O’Mahony would have wanted Praill to continue on because he never wasted any time, she said.

In mourning her loss, Praill said Sophie has kept her going. “I don’t know where I would be without her,” she said. “Some days I feel like I don’t know if I can do it because she reminds me so much of him. But thank God I have her because I don’t know how I would get up in the morning every day.”

And she sees O’Mahony in their daughter.

“She’s going to be just like him, I know  it, I can already tell,” she said. “I just hope she brings the same amount of joy to everybody that he did. He loved her so much.”