We begged her, please don’t go but she said: ‘I’ve a calling in this life...’
Family of Sr Clare killed in ‘16 quake tell of pain on RTE show
Mum Clare Crockett Sibling Shauna ordinary girl. She worked on a Saturday and went out like everyone else did. She enjoyed life.”
Mum Mary told how Clare’s outlook on life changed shortly after she decided at the last minute to join some friends on a pilgrimage to Spain aged 17.
She revealed: “Three months later she said ‘mummy I’m going away to be a nun’ and I thought ‘she’ll get over that’.
“I was down on my knees begging her, and so was her father, ‘please don’t go, please don’t go’. And she said, ‘I have a calling in life and this is my calling’.”
Shauna added: “Nobody would ever imagine Clare was going to be a nun.
“She was one of the best they had. She was fantastic at what she done. Everyone loved her.”
After the earthquake struck Mary was told her daughter was missing but she replied: “Clare’s not missing, Clare is dead.”
Asked how she knew, she added: “Because I am her mother.”
The honorary consul worked with the family who were concerned about how to get Clare’s body home and put them in touch with the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. The charity was set Hundreds were killed in the tremor up by Colin and Eithne Bell after their son was killed in a hit-andrun in New York in June 2013. The people in their home town of Newry raised so much to bring Kevin home they had €164,000 left over. When another Irishman died two weeks later in Thailand the Bells got in touch with his family and paid for his repatriation. Since then the trust has brought home the remains of 360 Irish people who’ve died abroad. Shauna said: “I rang Colin to tell him my sister was killed. Colin was in Australia and he worked from there phoning me and emailing me, ‘this is what is happening.’ “He is a fantastic man and does not get enough credit for what he does.” The Thin Green Line is on RTE One on Thursday at 7pm. news@irishmirror.ie
Colin Bell Sister Clare Crockett died in Ecquador quake last year
Colin Bell is a fantastic man and does not get enough credit for what he does SHAUNA CROCKETT PRAISES CHARITY BOSS