This article is from page 12 of the 2008-05-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
THE funeral will take place later to- day of author and journalist Nuala O Faolain (68), who died in Blackrock Hospice on Friday after a short battle with cancer.
Ms O Faolain, who lived in Bartra – just outside Lahinch, passed away almost three months to the day since she was first diagnosed with termi- nal cancer at a New York hospital on oe)ale- va arer
Journalist Nell McCafferty, who lived with Ms O Faolain in Bartra for a number of years, said that she was “proud” of her former partner and commended the way that she used her final days.
“I took pleasure and pride that the woman I knew, though she was afraid and very ill, she used what remained of her life with panache, style and exquisite good taste in her travels,’ she said.
“The culture of dying has changed, Nuala has changed that and the cul- ture of loving has changed.”
Instead of using chemotherapy to
extend her life, O Faolain decided to used the time to travel. In the last two months she visited Paris, made a trip to see art works in Madrid and took in the Berlin Opera.
Indeed, on the Sunday before her death, she had returned from her travels to Sicily with her sisters and a number of close friends.
A large crowd is expected to turn out for the funeral mass which will take place at the Church of the Visi- tation in Dublin at noon tomorrow. Removal will take place afterwards to Glasnevin crematorium.
Ms O Faolain is survived by five sisters, one brother, her partner John Low-Beer, and a wide circle of friends.
Born in Dublin in 1942, she was educated at UCD, the University of Hull and Oxford University. She gain ed international notoriety in 1996 with her controversial first memoir Are You Somebody’?