Co Tyrone crash victim Julia McSorley: Funeral remembers ‘selfless …
The community of Glenock gathered on Sunday to bid farewell to Julia McSorley, one of the victims of the crash.
The funeral mass took place in St Eugene’s Church, Glenock, where Mrs McSorley had been a “devoted parishioner” for many years.
The 75-year-old was remembered at her funeral as “dynamic, joyful, helpful, selfless, smiling, kind, bubbly, happily putting everyone else before herself”.
Father Roland Colhoun spoke of how the grandmother of 15 and great-grandmother of two “loved life”; how her “goodness brought a smile to everybody she met”. He also spoke of her “maternal bond” with all children and young people.
Father Colhoun said: “Julia was generous all the time, with her time, her possessions, to strangers and especially if it was a person who was in any kind of need. A maternal woman, young people gravitated toward Julia.
She gave a listening ear to every person in need. Everyone felt understood and consoled.
“She treated her children’s friends as if they were her own children. Any one of them could walk into her home at any time and make themselves a cup of tea.
They could ring her day or night to drive them or collect them in her car. If anyone asked, Julia said yes — she didn’t know the word no.”
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Father Colhoun continued the touching tribute, referring to Mrs McSorley as “one in a million” and stating that, although she “didn’t have an easy life”, the pain she suffered “never took away her kindness”.
He said: “Julia didn’t have an easy life. She buried many family members of all ages; battled cancer for years and recovered.
But no pain could take away her kindness. Julia never entertained bitterness, just forgiveness.
“Julia never wanted to be first. But in many ways she was number one: she was described at her wake as one in a million; number one in the hearts of her family; her door number is also number one.
Our hope at her funeral is that God embraces her good soul as the status of number one today.”
Father Colhoun then went on to say that Mrs McSorley was an “outstanding person” who devoted her life to her faith, attending pilgrimages and being present at mass regularly each week.
“Julia lived for God and for the family of God. Julia kept her holy water font filled and instructed family members and visitors to bless themselves each time they left her house. No words that you or I could say would do justice to this outstanding person.
“She loved hymns and she had a beautiful voice for speaking and singing.
I will miss her angelic voice when I walk down the aisle today, because she always joined in the hymns, singing like an angel every Sunday morning.”
Father Colhoun remarked that Sundays held great significance in Julia’s life.
She was born, baptised and confirmed on a Sunday.
He felt it was fitting that her Requiem Mass also took place on a Sunday, in the same church where she started her spiritual journey, “prayed regularly and persevered constantly”.
A representative of President Michael D Higgins, Colonel Stephen Howard, attended the funeral and paid his respects to the family during the ceremony, shaking their hands as a gesture of sympathy.
Mrs McSorley was laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery.
The tragic incident occurred on Thursday, when the minivan in which Mrs McSorley was travelling collided with a lorry near Aughnacloy.
She and the other passengers were returning home from a family funeral in Corby, England, when the accident took place.
Father Colhoun said that the loss of Mrs McSorley, the “death side by side” with her niece and nephew, and the “hospitalisation of four” has left the community “engulfed in grief”.
He expressed gratitude for the “courage and dedication” of the first responders who attended the “harrowing” scene.
“We include in our prayers for Mass today Colette and Ina, who are still in hospital, and William and Anne Marie, who have been discharged,” he said.
The funeral of siblings Dan (54) and Christine McKane (49) will take place on Monday in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Strabane.