The funeral of the first of three family members killed in a road crash near Aughnacloy on Thursday took place this morning.
Julia McSorley (75) from Newtownstewart, who had strong Donegal connections, died when the minibus she was travelling in collided with a lorry.
She was returning from her sister’s funeral in England with six other family members when tragedy struck early on Thursday morning.
The 75-year-old mother-of-five was killed along with her nephew and niece, Dan and Christine McKane, in a collision on the notorious A5 near the village of Aughnacloy.
Four other family members in the minibus were injured and two remain in hospital.
Today, she was described as joyful, helpful and selfless and someone who had a deep faith.
Fr Roland Colhoun said that Ms McSorley was “smiling, kind and bubbly” and that she was someone who “happily put everyone else before herself every day”.
“Julia never wanted to be first, but in many ways, she was number one,” he said.
Fr Colhoun said that Ms McSorley loved life and that her goodness brought a smile to everyone.
Speaking about the circumstance of her death, Fr Colhoun said that the family had been on a “compassionate journey returning from a funeral”.
“No one knew a tragedy and three more funerals awaited the family and the community,” he said.
Prayers were said for the doctors, nurses involved in treating Ms McSorley and the other family members, and the emergency services personnel who attended the scene.
Her funeral service took place in St Eugene’s Church in Newtownstewart this morning.
Colonel Stephen Howard, Aide de Camp to President Michael D Higgins was in attendance and hundreds of people watched a live stream of the funeral mass online.
Mourners heard that Ms McSorley was “generous all the time, generous with her time, with her possessions, and to strangers too.”
Ms McSorley will be laid to rest in the cemetery at St Eugene’s Church.
There will be a joint funeral service for Dan McKane, a father-of-two, and his sister and mother-of-three, Christine McKane, in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Strabane tomorrow.
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