A grandmother who died in a crash last week was remembered as a “Good Samaritan” during her funeral yesterday.
Nora O’Hagan (68) from Cookstown passed away in hospital a week after suffering injuries in the collision on October 16.
She is one of four people to have died on the roads in recent days.
Mrs O’Hagan is survived by her husband Eugene, her four children, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Boxer Conrad Cummings, the partner of one of her grandchildren, paid tribute to her after her death.
Requiem Mass at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Cookstown heard Mrs O’Hagan was a “wife, mother, grandmother, sister, neighbour, friend”, and she was remembered for her kindness.
Father Lawrence Boyle began by paying tribute to the family on how they had coped since the accident.
He said: “Today is day 13. It has been a long, difficult 13 days to arrive here at this church with the remains of your mother.
“Sometimes, when death knocks like that, we feel we’ve been cheated, we’ve been cheated by God.
“Nora got her healing. Not the healing maybe we’ve all been praying for, but as she closed her eyes and we sent her soul to God, then Jesus answered us, healed us.
“Over the last five days, we’re talking now six, the family put a white wreath on the door, and that wreath was not a symbol of beauty, but a symbol of welcome: a welcome to the house of Nora and Eugene, welcome to our family home, welcome to our sadness.”
He added that the family had been deeply touched by the number of people who had come to the house to pay their respects, and their hearts had been “lifted” by the many stories they had told about Nora.
He said: “They were stories that made you laugh, smile… there were even tears of laughter.
“You knew her as a mother and a grandmother. You knew her as a wife. But others knew her in a different way, as a Good Samaritan.”
He told the congregation that was why the gospel story of the Good Samaritan was chosen for the funeral.
Fr Boyle added: “Nora not only cared for her children and her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren, her outreach was a beautiful outreach, an outreach to anybody that needed help, even just to give a listening ear, even a kind word.
“Nora was the person who would say: ‘If there’s anything I can do, don’t hesitate to ask me, I’ll be here for you. I’ll do my best’.
“Jesus asked the question at the end: who was the Good Samaritan? The ones that are too busy with life, the ones that run around others, or the ones that stop to help.
“That’s how you summed up your mother over these last few days.
“You summed her up as a carer, a nurse, a mother, grandmother, a lover, a giver.
“Those were all beautiful things to say about her.
“That’s her summed up in this beautiful gospel today.
“All of us who bear the title Christian are called in some way to be a Good Samaritan.
“If Nora leaves you anything behind, she’s left you that gift and that legacy, and it’s something hopefully you will carry all the days of your life.”