LIVE LIFE FOR MUM
FUNERAL WORDS OF COMFORT FOR CRASH VICTIM’S DAUGHTER
THE teenage daughter of a Randalstown woman who died in a car crash has been told she is her mother’s living legacy.
Hundreds of mourners gathered yesterday for Requiem mass at St MacNissi’s church in Randalstown for the funeral of 35-year-old Michelle McStravick, who was killed on Monday morning along with her friend and work colleague Lorraine Clyde (56).
Michelle worked as a home care assistant and was also a popular competitor on the Northern Ireland body building scene.
Speaking to the congregation, Fr Diarmuid Sheehan directly addressed Michelle’s daughter Cliodhan: “Remember over the coming days (and always) that your mother was a good woman and that she loved you, indeed that she still loves you,” he said.
“In fact you described her loss as losing your best friend. I’m sure that, like every parent, she struggled with the best way to express her love. Parents do not come equipped with all the answers. Eddie and Liz (Cliodhan’s grandparents) also know that. Parents learn as they go along how to be a father, how to be a mother. Remember the special times with your mother, and recall them often in your heart as you might look at a special photograph. Even the one here before the altar.”
Fr Sheehan added that Michelle had left a “tremendous legacy”.
“Not only the legacy of how she touched so many people’s lives, but you, Cliodhan, are the main legacy, you are a living legacy. There’s something of your mother in you: in who you are, in how you act, in what you say. It is true you are your own unique person, yes, but you, are very much your mother’s daughter. That resemblance, that heritage, is a blessing. Cliodhan, by the way you live your life, by living with honour, compassion, and joy, you can realise the dreams your mother had for you and even the dreams she had for herself. You are her legacy, and a wonderful legacy you are and will be. Live your life well. With your grandfather and grandmother to help you, I know you will be supported in their great love for you.”
Earlier this week Cliodhan paid a moving tribute to her mother.
“My loving mother gained her angel wings and flew up to heaven on July 25, 2016,” she said.
“Words can’t explain how devastated I was when I heard the life-changing news that not only my mother passed, but my best friend left me. My mother, in my perspective, was the most outgo- ing, loveable person I’ve ever met and ever will meet. Words can’t explain how much of a setback this will (be to) her loved ones. Michelle lived her life by sharing quotes to other people. This is one of her favourites: ‘You have to take the good and the bad, smile when you’re sad, love what you’ve got and remember what you’ve had’.”
Today Lorraine Clyde’s funeral takes place at St Comgall’s Church in Antrim, leaving her ‘ The Meadows’ home at noon. It will then proceed to Roselawn Crematorium for 2.30pm.
The wife and mother was well known in Antrim as a “dedicated and loyal” patrol lady for St Comgall’s Primary Schoool. A statement from the school’s board of governors read: “She had the needs of the children at the forefront of her work. She will be sincerely missed”.