HUSBAND LOSES LIFELONG FRIEND AND SOULMATE
Husband loses lifelong friend and soulmate
By Martin Anderson
in Omagh
LAURENCE Rushe buried his soulmate yesterday.
His wife Libby (57) was killed after leaving the family's sign business in Omagh on Saturday to see what all the commotion was about.
Mr Rushe walked beside his wife's coffin as it was conveyed from their home in Michael Street, Omagh, yesterday afternoon. He did not have the strength to carry her.
Earlier this week, he described his wife as much more than just a wife. She was his soulmate, he said, his sister, his daughter and his mother all rolled into one.
As with all the funerals this week, hundreds of mourners packed the roads surrounding St Mary's Church, Drumragh.
The parish priest, Father Michael Keaveney, said Libby's funeral was "the most sorrowful occasion this church has ever seen."
"For the last five days, the eyes of the world have been on Omagh," he said. "It's the sort of notoriety we did not seek. The kind of fame we neither sought nor deserved.
"Libby represented what is finest and best in Omagh. She was caring, warm, and friendly. She was a good mother. Laurence has lost a good life companion.
"She was killed by the evil actions of some people who knew nothing about Libby. They try to justify it by appealing to some mythical cause. No cause is worth that sort of mayhem.
"Such thinking is a thing of the past. We are into a new era. There can be no appeal to victimisation or old historical wrongs."
Fr Keaveney welcomed First Minister David Trimble and Deputy Minister Seamus Mallon to his church to rounds of applause from the mourners.
Bishop Francis Lagan, auxiliary Bishop of Derry, urged all politicians to continue working together and sent a message to the bombers.
"Shame on you. For killing the innocent and the good, shame on you. For maiming and scarring people for life, shame on you."
Bishop Lagan also received a round of applause following his sermon.
Laurence spoke about his wife earlier this week. "We met when we were 15 and started going out together," he said.
"By the time we were 18 we were married.
"There is nobody in this world that knows me like my Libby did, I have lost my soulmate."
By Martin Anderson
in Omagh
LAURENCE Rushe buried his soulmate yesterday.
His wife Libby (57) was killed after leaving the family's sign business in Omagh on Saturday to see what all the commotion was about.
Mr Rushe walked beside his wife's coffin as it was conveyed from their home in Michael Street, Omagh, yesterday afternoon. He did not have the strength to carry her.
Earlier this week, he described his wife as much more than just a wife. She was his soulmate, he said, his sister, his daughter and his mother all rolled into one.
As with all the funerals this week, hundreds of mourners packed the roads surrounding St Mary's Church, Drumragh.
The parish priest, Father Michael Keaveney, said Libby's funeral was "the most sorrowful occasion this church has ever seen."
"For the last five days, the eyes of the world have been on Omagh," he said. "It's the sort of notoriety we did not seek. The kind of fame we neither sought nor deserved.
"Libby represented what is finest and best in Omagh. She was caring, warm, and friendly. She was a good mother. Laurence has lost a good life companion.
"She was killed by the evil actions of some people who knew nothing about Libby. They try to justify it by appealing to some mythical cause. No cause is worth that sort of mayhem.
"Such thinking is a thing of the past. We are into a new era. There can be no appeal to victimisation or old historical wrongs."
Fr Keaveney welcomed First Minister David Trimble and Deputy Minister Seamus Mallon to his church to rounds of applause from the mourners.
Bishop Francis Lagan, auxiliary Bishop of Derry, urged all politicians to continue working together and sent a message to the bombers.
"Shame on you. For killing the innocent and the good, shame on you. For maiming and scarring people for life, shame on you."
Bishop Lagan also received a round of applause following his sermon.
Laurence spoke about his wife earlier this week. "We met when we were 15 and started going out together," he said.
"By the time we were 18 we were married.
"There is nobody in this world that knows me like my Libby did, I have lost my soulmate."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0145
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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