SCHOOLGIRL WAS THE VICTIM OF CALLOUS AND DEPRAVED MEN - RECTOR
Schoolgirl was the victim of callous and depraved men - rector
HUNDREDS of mourners gathered at Lislimnaghan Parish Church on Thursday last for the funeral of 17-year-old Samantha McFarland.
The Strabane Grammar School pupil died after she and her friend, Lorraine Wilson, were evacuated from the Oxfam shop, at Omagh's High Street - where they worked as volunteers - into the path of the bomb.
Those who attended the funeral included First Minister, David Trimble, Mary Coughlin TD for Donegal South-West, the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn and William Thompson, West Tyrone MP.
Classmates from Strabane Grammar School met the cortege as it approached the church.
Addressing mourners, Rev. Derek Quinn, rector of Cappagh and Lislimnaghan, said that at the car bomb had not only ripped the heart out of Omagh but broke many hearts in the process.
Mr. Quinn, who said he had known Samantha for seven years, described her as a girl who cared passionately about the environment and who enjoyed art, literature and music.
"At school she was a popular and diligent student and her friends at Strabane Grammar School will, I know, miss her terribly. She was a girl with a faith and a frequent attender at Sunday worship," he said.
Mr. Quinn went on: "Among the photographs I have in my study at home is one of the Bishop and myself surrounded by a group of newly confirmed teenagers. It was taken immediately after confirmation in Lislimnaghan Church in 1993. On the extreme left of that photograph, dressed in black and white stands a very pretty girl. Today that same beautiful girl returns to her parish church for a very different reason.
"We gather here to thank God for the life of Samantha McFarland, and to say to her parents, Doreen and Gerald, her brothers, Richard and Jonathan, and the other members of her family circle and to her many friends, we share in your loss."
Mr. Quinn said Samantha was a beautiful girl in every sense - beautiful in looks and beautiful in character - kind, considerate and loving.
"She was a girl who loved much and was much loved in return as is evidenced by the people who have congregated here," he said.
He said it was difficult to accept that such a lovely girl should be taken at such a tender age.
"That we should lose her as the result of a vile and wicked act by callous and depraved men is almost impossible to comprehend," said Mr. Quinn.
Good cause
"Samantha has been cruelly taken from us but her causes - helping the poor, the oppressed and the needy, caring for the environment, building friendships that make no distinction between Catholic and Protestant. If we do that it will be the greatest tribute we can offer in her memory and perhaps her death will not totally have been in vain."
He went on: "I believe it was her Christian values which led her to work as a volunteer in the Oxfam shop in an attempt to help people in the Third World. How cruel and ironic it is that it was because of her desire to help those who are victims of poverty and injustice and oppression that she and her friend, Lorraine Wilson, should be evacuated from the Oxfam shop where they worked as Saturday volunteers only to walk into the path of the bomb which was to rob them of their lives.
"Let us resolve to work tirelessly and relentlessly for peace so that no community or family may ever again have to suffer in the way in which we have suffered in the past week," said Mr. Quinn.
Her brother, Richard, paid tribute to Samantha, who, he said, did not get the chance to take her A-levels or her driving test but passed, with ease, the test of life.
He spoke of his sister's "goodness, compassion and sensitivity towards people and animals", and added that she had a great love of people of all religions and all ages.
Fr. Kevin Mullan then told mourners that the Catholic and Protestant communities had been united by the tragic events in Omagh.
Samantha's remains were afterwards taken to Roselawn, Belfast, for cremation.
HUNDREDS of mourners gathered at Lislimnaghan Parish Church on Thursday last for the funeral of 17-year-old Samantha McFarland.
The Strabane Grammar School pupil died after she and her friend, Lorraine Wilson, were evacuated from the Oxfam shop, at Omagh's High Street - where they worked as volunteers - into the path of the bomb.
Those who attended the funeral included First Minister, David Trimble, Mary Coughlin TD for Donegal South-West, the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn and William Thompson, West Tyrone MP.
Classmates from Strabane Grammar School met the cortege as it approached the church.
Addressing mourners, Rev. Derek Quinn, rector of Cappagh and Lislimnaghan, said that at the car bomb had not only ripped the heart out of Omagh but broke many hearts in the process.
Mr. Quinn, who said he had known Samantha for seven years, described her as a girl who cared passionately about the environment and who enjoyed art, literature and music.
"At school she was a popular and diligent student and her friends at Strabane Grammar School will, I know, miss her terribly. She was a girl with a faith and a frequent attender at Sunday worship," he said.
Mr. Quinn went on: "Among the photographs I have in my study at home is one of the Bishop and myself surrounded by a group of newly confirmed teenagers. It was taken immediately after confirmation in Lislimnaghan Church in 1993. On the extreme left of that photograph, dressed in black and white stands a very pretty girl. Today that same beautiful girl returns to her parish church for a very different reason.
"We gather here to thank God for the life of Samantha McFarland, and to say to her parents, Doreen and Gerald, her brothers, Richard and Jonathan, and the other members of her family circle and to her many friends, we share in your loss."
Mr. Quinn said Samantha was a beautiful girl in every sense - beautiful in looks and beautiful in character - kind, considerate and loving.
"She was a girl who loved much and was much loved in return as is evidenced by the people who have congregated here," he said.
He said it was difficult to accept that such a lovely girl should be taken at such a tender age.
"That we should lose her as the result of a vile and wicked act by callous and depraved men is almost impossible to comprehend," said Mr. Quinn.
Good cause
"Samantha has been cruelly taken from us but her causes - helping the poor, the oppressed and the needy, caring for the environment, building friendships that make no distinction between Catholic and Protestant. If we do that it will be the greatest tribute we can offer in her memory and perhaps her death will not totally have been in vain."
He went on: "I believe it was her Christian values which led her to work as a volunteer in the Oxfam shop in an attempt to help people in the Third World. How cruel and ironic it is that it was because of her desire to help those who are victims of poverty and injustice and oppression that she and her friend, Lorraine Wilson, should be evacuated from the Oxfam shop where they worked as Saturday volunteers only to walk into the path of the bomb which was to rob them of their lives.
"Let us resolve to work tirelessly and relentlessly for peace so that no community or family may ever again have to suffer in the way in which we have suffered in the past week," said Mr. Quinn.
Her brother, Richard, paid tribute to Samantha, who, he said, did not get the chance to take her A-levels or her driving test but passed, with ease, the test of life.
He spoke of his sister's "goodness, compassion and sensitivity towards people and animals", and added that she had a great love of people of all religions and all ages.
Fr. Kevin Mullan then told mourners that the Catholic and Protestant communities had been united by the tragic events in Omagh.
Samantha's remains were afterwards taken to Roselawn, Belfast, for cremation.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0368
Published Date: 27-Aug-98
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