This article is from page 13 of the 2007-12-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
YOU could have heard a pin drop as Sylvia Roche Kelly’s husband, Lor- can, read out a poem in her memory.
As mourners fought back the tears, Lorcan Roche Kelly walked up to the pulpit and addressed the gathering at the end of her funeral mass.
His voice shaking, he read out a poem in Sylvia’s honour. Some of the
words were ‘For I have loved you’ – a tribute to the woman he loved.
Moments later, Lorcan held the couple’s five-year-old daughter, Ais- ling, in his arms as he walked with the cortege behind the coffin as it made its way to Killeen cemetery nearby.
Sylvia, nee Bourke, hailed from Coonagh in Limerick and had lived with her husband and two children,
Shane and Aisling, at Ballintlea be- tween Cratloe and Sixmilebridge.
On moving to that area she had im- mersed herself into the local com- munity.
She ran an art gallery, The Miller EVA (ClAABUI MODOC 0Nl slo ulccoMmmeteL ON mB Kor cently. She had closed the premises but continued to run art classes and had planned to re-open a gallery. She recently advertised her adult evening
and children’s Saturday pottery classes due to commence in January.
She had also worked part-time in the Woodcross bar and restaurant.
Locals in Sixmilebridge fondly re- membered Sylvia as someone who was always willing to lend a hand in activities in the area.
Her passing has left a void not only in the lives of her family, but also in the local community.