26 June 1997 Edition
Fógraí bháis
Anna Kelly
The death recently of Mrs Anna Kelly of Creggan marked the passing of one of the stalwarts of the prisoners' struggle. A founder member of Derry's Relatives Action Committee, she was one of a dedicated and determined core group of relatives who could be counted on to be at every protest and every action in support of the POWs, even if it meant travelling to the US or elsewhere abroad. You knew if Mrs Kelly, and her inseparable neighbour and friend of 40 years, Mrs Robson, weren't on a given bus to a protest, that it meant they were visiting their sons or daughter in one of the prisons.
``We actually had to plan our dinners a full week ahead, because we had something on every single day in those years,'' Mrs Robson recalls, referring to the H-Block/Armagh struggle. ``If we weren't running to the Crum, to Armagh or the H-Blocks, it was a bus to a protest or at a protest here in town.''
During the height of the H-Blocks/Armagh struggle, Anna Kelly toured the US, and Europe breaking the censorship over this issue, along with Eileen Harkin and Peggy McCool, also sadly gone now.
Mrs Kelly got a certificate from a Creggan community group proclaiming her a member of ``Creggan Women's Roll of Honour'', for her ``unconditional devotion to her husband and family.'' Mrs Robson describes her as ``a very, very strong woman, who just lived for her family.'' Her concern embraced the wider community, as reflected in the many tributes at her funeral. Not only Sinn Féin and the PDF, but many other community groups she worked tirelessly for mourned her passing: The Foyle Hospice, the Sperrin Ward (cancer patients) at Altnagelvin Hospital, and the Romanian children. Her long battle with cancer didn't dent her spirit. She was still selling PDF tickets long after she was too ill to do so.
Mrs Kelly's home on Westway in Creggan was the target for regular house raids, ``but she always gave as good as she got,'' recalls Mrs Robson. ``She was very witty, always had an answer to everything. You always got a laugh with her. She kept us going on many a long march, on the coldest, wettest days, whether from Coalisland to Dungannon, in Dublin or Belfast. Even when chemotherapy meant she lost her hair, she joked that she saved a fortune in perms.
In every way, except for her tiny frame, Mrs Kelly was larger than life. She typifies the courage, determination and good humour of the relatives of the POWs, through all the long years of struggle. She was one of Creggan's hero mothers, and her passing leaves a gap, mourned not only by the Republican Movement, but by all who knew her. To her sorrowing family and friends, we extend our deepest sympathy.
The death recently of Mrs Anna Kelly of Creggan marked the passing of one of the stalwarts of the prisoners' struggle. A founder member of Derry's Relatives Action Committee, she was one of a dedicated and determined core group of relatives who could be counted on to be at every protest and every action in support of the POWs, even if it meant travelling to the US or elsewhere abroad. You knew if Mrs Kelly, and her inseparable neighbour and friend of 40 years, Mrs Robson, weren't on a given bus to a protest, that it meant they were visiting their sons or daughter in one of the prisons.
``We actually had to plan our dinners a full week ahead, because we had something on every single day in those years,'' Mrs Robson recalls, referring to the H-Block/Armagh struggle. ``If we weren't running to the Crum, to Armagh or the H-Blocks, it was a bus to a protest or at a protest here in town.''
During the height of the H-Blocks/Armagh struggle, Anna Kelly toured the US, and Europe breaking the censorship over this issue, along with Eileen Harkin and Peggy McCool, also sadly gone now.
Mrs Kelly got a certificate from a Creggan community group proclaiming her a member of ``Creggan Women's Roll of Honour'', for her ``unconditional devotion to her husband and family.'' Mrs Robson describes her as ``a very, very strong woman, who just lived for her family.'' Her concern embraced the wider community, as reflected in the many tributes at her funeral. Not only Sinn Féin and the PDF, but many other community groups she worked tirelessly for mourned her passing: The Foyle Hospice, the Sperrin Ward (cancer patients) at Altnagelvin Hospital, and the Romanian children. Her long battle with cancer didn't dent her spirit. She was still selling PDF tickets long after she was too ill to do so.
Mrs Kelly's home on Westway in Creggan was the target for regular house raids, ``but she always gave as good as she got,'' recalls Mrs Robson. ``She was very witty, always had an answer to everything. You always got a laugh with her. She kept us going on many a long march, on the coldest, wettest days, whether from Coalisland to Dungannon, in Dublin or Belfast. Even when chemotherapy meant she lost her hair, she joked that she saved a fortune in perms.
In every way, except for her tiny frame, Mrs Kelly was larger than life. She typifies the courage, determination and good humour of the relatives of the POWs, through all the long years of struggle. She was one of Creggan's hero mothers, and her passing leaves a gap, mourned not only by the Republican Movement, but by all who knew her. To her sorrowing family and friends, we extend our deepest sympathy.