Heartbreaking scenes as tragic Kathryn laid to rest

There were heartbreaking scenes in Derry this afternoon at the funeral of the young local woman killed in a road crash in Donegal during the week.

Kathryn Jones (27), from Corrib Court in Ballymagroarty, died after the car she was driving was in collision with a lorry at Drumkeen on the main Letterkenny to Stranorlar road at around 7.00am on Friday.

Over a thousand people packed into the Church of the Holy Family in Ballymagroarty to hear Fr Paddy O’Kane, celebrant of her Requiem Mass, recall the last words the 27-year-old said to her boyfriend, Paddy Friel, shortly before the fatal crash.

Many wept openly as Fr O’Kane revealed: “Paddy, l love you.”

Fr O’Kane also recalled how the couple met.

He said: “Three years ago, she applied for and got a job with United Healthcare in Letterkenny where she recently had a promotion

“A year ago, a handsome young man called Paddy Friel, from Ballybofey, set eyes at work on this beautiful blonde girl from Derry but he couldn’t get an excuse at work to ask her out.

“But, some time later, as fate would have it, he bumped into her one day at Foyleside Shopping – a simple ‘hello’ led to a conversation, led to her getting her telephone number, followed by a text message to ask her out.

“She played hard to get at first before falling head over heels in love with him and during the past year their friendship, romance and love for each other enriched their lives.

“Paddy told me the last words he said to him on Friday morning were ‘Paddy, I love you’.”

Earlier, Fr O’Kane spoke of the shock and sadness at Kathryn’s tragic passing.

He said: “We gather to express our sorrow that the life of Kathryn has ended and at the same time, because we are people of faith, we ask God to have mercy on her soul and give thanks for a life, even though short, was so well lived.

“For every single person here today will have a time in your life when you ae helpless and you may feel God is asleep, no one escapes – for the family and friends of Kathryn Jones that time is today - a devastating loss of a loving daughter and sister.

“It goes against the natural order for parents not bury their children but I know Jimmy and Denise, you have already had to bury your two young babies, Robert and James, who died shortly after birth – but nothing compares to the pain of today.

Kathryn, a business studies graduate who attended the Ulster University at Magee and Coleraine, was laid to rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in Ardmore.

She is survived by parents James and Denise, brothers Stephen, Nicholas and Timothy and sisters Laura and Clare-Marie.