Tributes paid to Laytown Garda who passed away after brave battle with illness
Tributes have been paid to serving Laytown Garda Staci Daly (nee Wykes) who passed away yesterday (Thursday) after a brave battle with illness.
A native of Athlone, Staci, who would have turned 32 later this month, spent her entire garda career in the Ashbourne Garda District.
She was posted to Ashbourne Garda Station in 2016 after graduating from Templemore, before later being assigned to Laytown Garda Station in January 2020.
Her death has caused widespread sadness in the east Meath community where Staci was a very valued and well-liked Garda.
Superintendent Yvonne Murphy of Ashbourne Garda District has paid tribute to Staci, describing her as a "conscientious, driven and professional young Garda".
She said: "On behalf of the Garda members and staff of An Garda Síochána, Ashbourne District, I want to pay tribute to our late colleague Garda Staci Wykes, Laytown Garda Station. Staci has sadly lost her long battle with illness but it was one borne with tremendous strength, courage and immense dignity. We are all, as colleagues and friends, deeply saddened by her passing.
"As a member of An Garda Síochána, Garda Staci Wykes was a valued member of our District team. She was a conscientious, driven and professional young Garda, who in her short career with us, made a significant impact on her colleagues; the victims of crime she supported; and the community she served. Garda Staci Wykes embodied the highest ethical and professional standards and the very best of An Garda Síochána.
"Staci was a strong young woman who exuded professionalism and stood as a role model to her peers and her many Garda colleagues. The quote often attributed to Pericles states “what you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others” – the legacy of Garda Staci Wykes is woven into the lives of the many people she helped as a Garda serving our community and our Nation. It is a legacy and contribution that will always be woven into the memory of her many colleagues and friends in An Garda Síochána.
"To Stacie’s husband Cathal, her Mum and Dad Jackie and Pat, sister Linda, grandparents, in-laws and all her extended family and friends, we extend to each of you our deepest and most heartfelt condolences. In your time of sorrow and grief, we want you to know how valued, respected and loved Staci was to all her colleagues in the Garda family."
Staci's Funeral Mass will take place in Corpus Christi Church, Mount Temple tomorrow (Saturday) at 12 noon and she will be laid to rest afterwards in Donegan Cemetery.