MOTHER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS-R.I.P -- Stormont Watch

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Date Posted: Mon, Jun 25 2007, 18:56:36 PDT
Author: D.B.-Derry News
Subject: MOTHER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS-R.I.P

Report from the Derry News, Thursday 21 June 2007
Distributed by rights.civil@googlemail.com Office of the October 5th Assoc-a network of 1968 civil rights veterans

Mother of the Civil Rights

A 99-year-old Derry woman described by a prominent civil rights leader in the city as �the mother� of the movement was laid to rest earlier this week.

Mary Ellen O�Doherty died peacefully at Altnagelvin Hospital on Saturday after a short illness. The widow of Harry O�Doherty (1899-1989), decorated for his role in the Irish Volunteers, Mrs O�Doherty is believed to have been the last of a generation linking Derry to the War of Independence.

Draped in the national flag, her coffin had been carried from her former home in Crawford Square to the doors of St. Eugene�s Cathedral by family, neighbours, men and women from local community groups and former republican prisoners.

Mrs O�Doherty�s casket was carried into the Cathedral by her sons to the music of the Mountains of Pomeroy, and during her last Mass a number of Gaelic laments were played and sung.

Offering Requiem Mass on Monday morning, Fr. Gerard Mongan said Mrs. O�Doherty had made an immense contribution to the evolution of society as well as rearing her nine surviving children.

�Mary Ellen instilled in her family a great love for education-for she believed passionately that education was the key to progress,� Fr. Mongan said.

�And in celebrating her long life today, we are all conscious of her family�s loss.

�First and foremost Mary was a devoted wife to Harry, who died in 1989.

�Both she and her husband represented local working class views and their home became a focal point for the community.

�Like others of her generation she attended every one of the Civil Rights marches that took place between 1968 and �72.

�One leader spoke publicly of her being a �mother to everyone involved.�

A lifelong gaelgoiri, Fr. Mongan said Mrs O�Doherty helped promote Irish culture in the city and enjoyed a profound love of Gaeilge literature, song and dance.

He also noted her contribution to the welfare of prisoners, social justice and the rights of women-for which she received the transatlantic Celtic Cross Award earlier this year.

And described her as a �powerful presence� at every family gathering.

�She has left us an inspiring legacy in her commitment to social justice and equality as well as her Irish identity, which she would never forget or deny.

�Mary rejoiced and was glad of all things Irish, including ceili dancing and music.

�Sitting on her Gaelic-speaking grandmother�s knee, in the Co. Tyrone town land where she was reared, she�d listened to first hand accounts of starvation, evictions and mass emigration.� For more than a decade she acted as a trustee, alongside the late Cllor. Tony Carlin, former Mayor of Derry, on the North West Great Hunger Memorials Committee.

Fr. Mongan led the congregation in the prayers beloved by Mrs. O�Doherty, S� do bheatha Mhuire and the �r nAthair.

Her funeral procession left the church to the strains of the Flower of Sweet Strabane, which is close to her birthplace, Balee, Ballymagory.

Musical tributes were provided by �odan Dorach � Donnghaile, Riseard Mac Gabhann and P�draigh � Mian�in who played a piece specially composed for Mrs O�Doherty�s Requiem Mass.

According to messages flooding into the civil rights veterans office, where Mrs. O�Doherty had for a time worked voluntarily, Masses were offered this week in Trinidad, Spain, the US, Glasgow and London, and by Irish missionaries in fields across Africa, in her memory.

Mrs. O�Doherty is survived by her sons and daughters Anna, Pat Leo, Breege, Mary Kathleen, Pearse, Deirdre, Fionnbarra, Kevin and David and by her surviving sister Celine, who still resides in Strabane.

D.B.

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