Kathleen Deery

The late Kathleen Deery

Everybody who knew Kathleen Deery will have a story to tell. Kathleen was a multi-dimensional person. She was a mother, a grandmother, a sister, an aunt, a comrade and a friend. She was a lifelong republican, a community activist in Twinbrook originally from the Short Strand.

The character and qualities that have been the hallmarks of the Short Strand community came out many times in the course of her life. She was someone who broke the mould, who challenged the status quo, who never took no for an answer, who put her community first, as Joe her husband said, she was the people's champion.

When Joe was imprisoned in the 1970s in Long Kesh, Kathleen was left to raise and care for their family. She decided to take up a job driving a black taxi. In those days, black taxis would have been perceived as very much a job for men only. Yet Kathleen was not one to be deterred from becoming the first black taxi women on the road and making history for other women to follow.

It was not just in her personal life, however, that Kathleen stepped up to the mark. Whether it was in the community or in her role as a republican, Kathleen was never found wanting. She gave a life of service to both her community and the republican struggle.

She was always a person who was concerned about bettering the lives of people. She would have been involved in the first residents' groups in the area and she was involved in setting up the Kilwee social club.

It was in her role as a republican that many would have known Kathleen. In all branches of the Republican Movement, in every phase of this struggle, Kathleen stepped into the breach and gave of her service and time to help. And it was often hidden work few knew anything about but that was invaluable to this struggle.

I remember when she told me of the time she and Joe heard of the great escape from the H Blocks in 1983. Prisoners had run across fields to get away. Kathleen and Joe had driven out to the jail to see if they could see any of the fleeing prisoners. This is typical of Kathleen how she put others, particularly prisoners, first and risked everything to help them.

Without the work and commitment of Kathleen Deery and people like her during the last 30 years, republicans would not be at the centre of the political stage as we are today. We would not be forging ahead, growing in strength across the island.

When I first met Kathleen Deery it was 1981, the year Bobby Sands and other republicans were on hunger strike in the H-Blocks. I was on the blanket protest and Kathleen was one of a number of republicans who came up to visit prisoners. This was a time when visits were few and far between. It was people like Kathleen Deery on visits that republicans relied on to keep up communications with the prisoners and the republican movement on the outside. Kathleen visited me and others knowing full well she risked being caught.

Kathleen, long after the Hunger Strike and Blanket Protest had ended, still visited me in prison; indeed she did so until my release from jail in 1988. I will never forget the kindness and support Kathleen gave me during those years of imprisonment and I have thought of those visits by Kathleen since she died. Indeed, in my first week of freedom from jail, I visited Kathleen and Joe, along with my mother and father. Sadly, my own father passed away three years ago and he also is in my thoughts.

Kathleen lived a good and honest life and it's quite impossible to sum that life up in a few words. I don't believe in eulogising the dead but I do believe in celebrating life and particularly a life well lived — a life spent in struggle and in activism.

I will always remember the times you visited me in jail, Kathleen. You will always be in my thoughts and prayers. The last year of your life was not easy for you or your family. Your spirit and endurance as you battled with your illness were characteristic of the way you led your life. We will sadly miss you and let your life be an example to us all.

Go ndeana Dia trocaire ar a anam dílis.

BY PAUL BUTLER