7 April 2005 Edition

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Margaret McCauley

Margaret McCauley

Margaret McCauley

Margaret McCauley, sister of 1981 Hunger Striker Michael Devine, died suddenly last week.

Margaret's life was a personification of the poem I am of Ireland and Margaret in every sense of the word was an Irishwoman.

So it was with great sorrow that we gathered to bury this woman of Ireland last week, for people like Margaret only pass through our lives once. The shock of her premature death has reverberated not only around Derry and Ireland, but throughout the United States, her second home for the last number of years. We are sorrowful beyond words for the loss of Margaret, for the loss of her strength, her joy in living, her courage, and her great dignity as a human being in the face of great adversity.

This woman of Ireland was a daughter, a sister, a wife, and a mother, a grandmother and in all the many roles that Margaret fulfiled in her life, she did so with humour and compassion.

Each of us in our own way will cherish the memory of this wonderful, exuberant woman, but few of us will truly understand the immense debt that we owe her. She loved Ireland as she loved life, and she loved people as she loved life. Those of us who knew her knew that Margaret was larger than life in everything she did and said. She gave of her energy, her talents, and her life's work first of all to her family and also to the cause of freedom and justice in Ireland.

Born in Ardmore, Margaret was brought up in Springtown Camp, a conglomeration of Nissen Huts vacated by the US Army after the Second World War. Springtown Camp and its residents would become the rallying call for the Civil Rights Movement, focusing attention on the injustices of the Unionist regime that had long ago decided that people like Margaret were second-class citizens. But unionism didn't reckon with that generation and woman like Margaret, who got off their knees and for the rest of her life, Margaret would face down those who thought they were invincible. It was Margaret who was invincible.

In later years, when she could afford to own her home, she had the satisfaction of knowing that beginning her life in hut 82, Springtown Camp, would always remind her that it was unionism that was now on its knees.

When her parents died, Margaret was left to care for her only brother, Michael.

She married and moved to Creggan, first to Circular Road and then to Rathkeele Way.

When Michael, who was a volunteer in the INLA, was arrested, Margaret's life took on a new dimension. She threw herself wholeheartedly into the H-Block campaign, for Margaret was never one to do things by half. It was not easy to stand up and support prisoners then and it was all the more difficult for women who had to run a home and care for children.

When Michael joined the Hunger Strike in 1981, Margaret travelled the world seeking support for the Hunger Strikers and the five demands of the prisoners in the H-Blocks and Armagh. She had to listen as the British and Irish establishments demonised and vilified the prisoners and she had to watch the suffering of the dying men, knowing that Thatcher and the Tory Government were prepared to let them all die.

She recounted later the pain of Michael's last hours and those who heard her, heard the words of a women, proud of her brother, but filled with a sorrow that she would carry with her all the rest of her life. For beneath the beautiful smile and the dimples, one could always see in her face the shadow of sorrow

The dignity and courage of Margaret and her family during Michael's death and funeral, inspired people all over the world. Not for her the consolation of private grief. The British media would ensure that would not happen.

Nevertheless, in the years that followed she continued in her work for the prisoners and the Republican Movement. Those were not easy years for Margaret, but she never missed a protest, a commemoration, an opportunity to keep alive the memory of the sacrifice of those who died on hunger strike and those who died on the streets during those terrible months. She paid a price in her personal life.

In the years that followed, she found great joy in her grandchildren and the many friends she made all over Ireland and the US. But happiness was not a feature in Margaret's life. Sorrow was never far from her door.

In November 1997, tragedy struck Margaret and her family. The fire, which claimed the lives of her only son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren shocked the whole community. For Margaret, it was a time of unimaginable sorrow and it took its toll on her. A lesser person would have retired from the world to grieve but not Margaret. She became the voice of the firemen in their appeal for people to take precautions against fire in their homes. She rallied round the call for better ambulances services on the west Bank of the River Foyle.

In the midst of her pain and sorrow she still found time to encourage those who felt the weight of the long struggle for peace and justice in Ireland. She was passionate in her defence of the republican family and those still in prison.

During the 20th anniversary of the Hunger Strikes, Margaret embarked on a speaking tour of the US. It was during this time that she met Bill, who says that she literally collided with him. But then Margaret collided with so many people during her life and all including Bill, felt the force of her great personality, and her wonderful sense of humour. She moved to Boston and for the next four years she would enjoy a measure of happiness with Bill and his family and with many of the young Irish emigrants she befriended in the Boston area. She became their surrogate mother, mentor, friend confidante, advisor and her home became a place of refuge for them. She helped everyone. She empathised with those grieving, or suffering loss, for she knew the loneliness of that place. But most of all, in good days or bad, she made people laugh, she filled every room with her presence and her colourful language raised many eyebrows as she argued the toss in the hotseat of Irish republican politics.

She was in Bundoran on Easter Monday for the unveiling of a Garden of Remembrance to the hunger strikers. She had looked forward to this for years, as she believed that this place would serve to remind everyone of the great sacrifice of the men who died and would subvert the attempts of the British and Irish Governments to criminalise the Hunger Strikers and the republican struggle. The esteem in which she was held by the republican family is reflected today in the Guard of Honour, of ex-prisoners from the H-Blocks and Armagh Women's Prison.

I am honoured to say these few inadequate words in tribute to Margaret, for words can never express the gratitude we owe her, or the sorrow we feel in parting from her.

To her husband Bill, her daughters, Lisa and Cathy, her grandchildren, to Frankie and the extended families, and to all who knew this remarkable woman — may I on behalf of the Republican Movement, extend our profound sympathy. May her generous and loving soul rest in peace.

BY MARY NELIS


An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland