YOUNG STUDENT'S LIFE CUT SHORT BY AN EVIL AND SAVAGE ACT
Young student's life cut short by an 'evil and savage act'
THERE is no answer to the question "why" this side of eternity, the President of the Methodist Church, Rev. David Kerr, told mourners at the funeral of Julia Hughes in Omagh Methodist Church.
Twenty-one-year-old Julia, of Beltany Road, Omagh, was an accountancy student at Dundee University, and had a part-time job in a photo processing lab at High Street.
Hundreds of mourners packed into the church and hall for the service on Thursday last. Among them were the Lord Lieutenant of Co. Tyrone, the Duke of Abercorn, representing the Queen, the Duchess of Abercorn, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr. Seamus Mallon. The university was represented by officials and a large number of students
Mr. Kerr was assisted by the exchange minister, Rev. Tom Anderson, from Michigan, and Rev. Thomas Stevenson, Omagh and Fintona Circuit.
Mr. Kerr told mourners they met because of the evil and savage act visited on the peaceful town of Omagh.
He said: "We are met in deep grief and anguish of heart to mourn the senseless death of a vibrant 21-year-old, whose life was only just beginning to unfold before her."
Mr. Kerr said the mourners came to surround Julia's father and mother, Alex and Helen, brother, Richard, sister, Lara, and twin brother, Justin, with their love, sympathy and prayers.
He went on: "But we also come to give thanks for the 21 years of Julia's life which brought so much love and happiness to her family circle and to all who knew her.
"She enjoyed life, and lived it to the full, both with her family and friends. She was full of spunk and determination and faced life head on.
"Studying accountancy at Dundee University, she had returned to a summer job in a photographic shop. She shared the insights of her new experience as she helped her mum complete an album of her parents' last holiday.
"But Julia was also a quiet and sensitive person, hinting at hidden depths and a deeper understanding of life that went beyond her 21 years.
"This side of Julia was expressed in her closeness to her grandmother, whom she rang twice a week when she was at university, and we remember grandma, especially, in our service."
Mr. Kerr said he had only seen Julia's photograph, but the evidence of a deep family life, of which she was such an important part, were all around and he and his wife, shared the family's grief.
Turning to the Hughes family, he said: "With a family of young adults myself, I can begin to understand something of the awfulness of the grief that you are sharing as a family in these days.
"I know that you have found comfort and consolation from your own friends and neighbours, and from the many friends of Julia who have visited since Sunday. You have also found a fellowship of suffering that embraces this whole town, and you have asked me to express on your behalf your love and your sympathies with all who have been bereaved and injured.
"You have also asked me to express your thanks and appreciation to all who have brought you comfort and consolation, and to all the emergency services who have sought to care for the dying, the injured and the bereaved."
And, his voice breaking with emotion, Mr. Kerr spoke directly to Julia's father: "Alex, you have asked the question 'why?', and to that question there is absolutely no answer this side of eternity.
"When I called at your house, it was to discover that you and I had met in the days of our youth, when faith was easy and life untroubled. "We have met again as two fathers struggling to make sense of the madness and evil of this world. One as he tries to come to terms with the death of one of his daughters, the other as a minister of religion trying to bring comfort and to struggle with the question, where is a living God in the midst of so much suffering?
"The only answer I can give is that He is exactly there in the midst of the suffering that is Omagh this week. He hurts with our hurt, He weeps with our tears and, in the death of His son, he shares our suffering," he said.
Mr. Kerr said the resurrection of Jesus was God's answer to the cry of the human heart. It was God's assurance that love was stronger than hatred; that life was stronger than death; that compassion had a greater power than a 500lb bomb; and that loved ones were not lost in death, but were in the keeping of God, whose steadfast love knew no end.
"Without this assurance of faith there is no light in the darkness, no hope for the road that lies ahead, and no reunion at the end of the journey.
"We meet as a Christian community, and we end with the promise of Jesus: 'because I live, you shall live also'," Mr. Dixon said.
During the service a poem entitled 'Julia', written by a friend of her twin brother, Justin, was read out by him. It was:
Can you feel that I am with you, and that I am safe?
Can you feel my spirit easing your much-felt heartache?
When it's hard for you because it's all so very wrong
I whisper very dearly, ' I love you, please be strong.
My life was not in vain, though just about to start
For I will live forever, within the whole world's heart.
The minister of Omagh Methodist Church, Rev. Peter Good, who was in America as part of an exchange programme at the time of the bombing, returned early to conduct the cremation service at Roselawn.
Mr. Good said he had known Mr. Hughes since they worked in Belfast as young men, and liked to think he was a friend of the family, not just its minister.
At Roselawn, he spoke of the spirit of heaviness he, and all who knew Julia, felt.
She was a popular young woman who gave so much by way of friendship, but she was always grateful for what people did for her, he said.
From now on, the people of Omagh, and the people of Ireland as a whole, needed to work together to make this "the last bomb", Mr. Good said.
THERE is no answer to the question "why" this side of eternity, the President of the Methodist Church, Rev. David Kerr, told mourners at the funeral of Julia Hughes in Omagh Methodist Church.
Twenty-one-year-old Julia, of Beltany Road, Omagh, was an accountancy student at Dundee University, and had a part-time job in a photo processing lab at High Street.
Hundreds of mourners packed into the church and hall for the service on Thursday last. Among them were the Lord Lieutenant of Co. Tyrone, the Duke of Abercorn, representing the Queen, the Duchess of Abercorn, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr. Seamus Mallon. The university was represented by officials and a large number of students
Mr. Kerr was assisted by the exchange minister, Rev. Tom Anderson, from Michigan, and Rev. Thomas Stevenson, Omagh and Fintona Circuit.
Mr. Kerr told mourners they met because of the evil and savage act visited on the peaceful town of Omagh.
He said: "We are met in deep grief and anguish of heart to mourn the senseless death of a vibrant 21-year-old, whose life was only just beginning to unfold before her."
Mr. Kerr said the mourners came to surround Julia's father and mother, Alex and Helen, brother, Richard, sister, Lara, and twin brother, Justin, with their love, sympathy and prayers.
He went on: "But we also come to give thanks for the 21 years of Julia's life which brought so much love and happiness to her family circle and to all who knew her.
"She enjoyed life, and lived it to the full, both with her family and friends. She was full of spunk and determination and faced life head on.
"Studying accountancy at Dundee University, she had returned to a summer job in a photographic shop. She shared the insights of her new experience as she helped her mum complete an album of her parents' last holiday.
"But Julia was also a quiet and sensitive person, hinting at hidden depths and a deeper understanding of life that went beyond her 21 years.
"This side of Julia was expressed in her closeness to her grandmother, whom she rang twice a week when she was at university, and we remember grandma, especially, in our service."
Mr. Kerr said he had only seen Julia's photograph, but the evidence of a deep family life, of which she was such an important part, were all around and he and his wife, shared the family's grief.
Turning to the Hughes family, he said: "With a family of young adults myself, I can begin to understand something of the awfulness of the grief that you are sharing as a family in these days.
"I know that you have found comfort and consolation from your own friends and neighbours, and from the many friends of Julia who have visited since Sunday. You have also found a fellowship of suffering that embraces this whole town, and you have asked me to express on your behalf your love and your sympathies with all who have been bereaved and injured.
"You have also asked me to express your thanks and appreciation to all who have brought you comfort and consolation, and to all the emergency services who have sought to care for the dying, the injured and the bereaved."
And, his voice breaking with emotion, Mr. Kerr spoke directly to Julia's father: "Alex, you have asked the question 'why?', and to that question there is absolutely no answer this side of eternity.
"When I called at your house, it was to discover that you and I had met in the days of our youth, when faith was easy and life untroubled. "We have met again as two fathers struggling to make sense of the madness and evil of this world. One as he tries to come to terms with the death of one of his daughters, the other as a minister of religion trying to bring comfort and to struggle with the question, where is a living God in the midst of so much suffering?
"The only answer I can give is that He is exactly there in the midst of the suffering that is Omagh this week. He hurts with our hurt, He weeps with our tears and, in the death of His son, he shares our suffering," he said.
Mr. Kerr said the resurrection of Jesus was God's answer to the cry of the human heart. It was God's assurance that love was stronger than hatred; that life was stronger than death; that compassion had a greater power than a 500lb bomb; and that loved ones were not lost in death, but were in the keeping of God, whose steadfast love knew no end.
"Without this assurance of faith there is no light in the darkness, no hope for the road that lies ahead, and no reunion at the end of the journey.
"We meet as a Christian community, and we end with the promise of Jesus: 'because I live, you shall live also'," Mr. Dixon said.
During the service a poem entitled 'Julia', written by a friend of her twin brother, Justin, was read out by him. It was:
Can you feel that I am with you, and that I am safe?
Can you feel my spirit easing your much-felt heartache?
When it's hard for you because it's all so very wrong
I whisper very dearly, ' I love you, please be strong.
My life was not in vain, though just about to start
For I will live forever, within the whole world's heart.
The minister of Omagh Methodist Church, Rev. Peter Good, who was in America as part of an exchange programme at the time of the bombing, returned early to conduct the cremation service at Roselawn.
Mr. Good said he had known Mr. Hughes since they worked in Belfast as young men, and liked to think he was a friend of the family, not just its minister.
At Roselawn, he spoke of the spirit of heaviness he, and all who knew Julia, felt.
She was a popular young woman who gave so much by way of friendship, but she was always grateful for what people did for her, he said.
From now on, the people of Omagh, and the people of Ireland as a whole, needed to work together to make this "the last bomb", Mr. Good said.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0373
Published Date: 27-Aug-98
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