This article is from page 4 of the 2005-08-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
AS hundreds of mourners crowded into St Senan’s Church in Kilrush for Ann Walsh’s funeral Mass on Monday morning, the young girl’s uncle appealed for people who may have seen any suspicious activity on the night of her death to come forward.
Martin Walsh – a brother of Ann’s father Stephen – told a tearful crowd how he remembered Ann talking, playing, drinking minerals and eating sweets as a little child grow- ing up in her native Kilrush.
“She loved life and was a lovely girl. It is a pity she was taken from us so tragically. You rear kids and think when they grow up that they could make their own way in life. It is a chilling fact that something like this could hap- pen just yards away from this church,” said her distraught uncle.
“People should look after one another and make sure nothing like this would happen in a small close-knit com- munity like this. I would appeal to anyone who knows anything that happened on the night in question to come forward,’ he added.
Ann’s only sister, Mary fought back the tears as she spoke briefly from the pulpit. She said she will never for-
get the 23-year-old.
“She was a great sister and daughter. She shouldn’t have been taken away from us like this. We love her. She was as good. She was an angel,” said Mary Walsh.
Kilrush parish priest, Fr Michael Sheedy, one of five priests concelebrating the Mass, prayed for the Donovan family, who he said may well take longer to “come to terms with the shock and devastation in their lives.”
“We regularly hear of tragic deaths of young persons but very rarely do we expect our own community to have to come to terms with such a tragic death. We all wonder why this had to happen. We have been asking questions over the past number of days but getting no answers,” said Fr Sheedy.
He said Ann’s sudden passing had turned the lives of her family and friends ‘upside down.’ “There is a huge empti- ness in their hearts because of Ann, who they brought up through life and who her parents had loved for the past 23 years. It is so cruel she was taken from them in this way. She was so full of life,” he added.
‘She was taken out in the prime of her life with so much other work yet to complete and so much to do in her life. Her family always had pride of place in her life. Ann had planned to go on holidays but it wasn’t to be,” said Fr Neel e ays