’Beautiful soul’ laid to rest in Newtownstewart this morning

A NEWSTOWNSTEWART woman killed in last Thursday’s road crash near Aughnacloy was described as a ‘beautiful soul’ at her funeral today.

Julia McSorley, 75, died along with two relatives when the minibus in which they were was travelling was in collision with a lorry.

Requiem Mass for Ms McSorley was celebrated in St Eugene’s Church in Glenock, just outside Newtownstewart.

A funeral for the two other victims, siblings Dan and Christine McKane, will take place in Strabane on Monday.

Four other people were injured in the incident.

Local priest, Fr Roland Colhoun told mourners Ms McSorley was a “beautiful soul” who “happily put the needs of everyone else before herself.”

“Julia never wanted to be first but in many ways she was number one,” he added

The group had been returning to Strabane from a family funeral in England when the tragedy happened early last Thursday morning.

“The McKane family was on a compassionate journey returning from a funeral in England. No-one knew that a tragedy and three more funerals awaited the family and the community,” Fr Colhoun said.

On Friday evening, hundreds of people attended a vigil for the family in Strabane.

Parish priest of Camus, Fr Declan Boland, said the support being offered to the family since the fatal collision was extremely important, not just for the McKanes but also the wider community as well.

“It is only now that the full impact of the reality of what has happened is really sinking in,” he said.

“Everyone really feels for the family and wants to support them in whatever way possible. There has been a silence at Mass in Strabane, where people are present at a very deep level but don’t have the words to express their deepest feelings.

“People are standing around in small groups, being there with the family. There are tears, hugs and prayers, but we are speaking in a vacuum because three members of the same family have been taken from us so suddenly.”