Faith, family, justice and equality. Those were some of the most important things in the life of Patricia O’Connor who died last Sunday.

Pat, as she was affectionately known, passed away following a long battle with cancer.

“For us as a family the loss of mammy will leave a huge void. As many families know cancer is a cruel illness but mammy bore it with a strength and she always put her faith in God’s plan and said whatever he wanted to happen would happen,” a family member explained yesterday (Wednesday).

Faith was an important part of Pat’s life with prayer something that was very close to her heart.

“She prayed all the time. She set up prayer groups and she really believed in the power of prayer. Not long before she died, she actually said that she wouldn’t be here to pray for us all. Her faith was amazing and was very important to her,” the family member said.

Pat was originally from County Down, living on the Ormeau Road in Belfast and according to her family she felt a strong affinity to her home county. “Oh, she was very proud to be from County Down and spoke very fondly of it. Anytime Down were playing the Down flag would be outside the house.”

Along with her faith, family was also close to Pat’s heart. She was “just brilliant” with her 22 grandchildren and three great grandchildren according to the family member.

“She loved having her family around her. She never forgot a birthday and she would have looked after a lot of the grandkids when we were working, and she just loved having them close to her. All her family were so important to her,”

“When we were growing up we would have had friends in the house and mammy loved that. She would cook for everyone and she just loved having the house full of people.”

Pat also had a strong sense of social justice and helped people in need whenever she could. If someone needed help mammy would give that help. She really hated injustice and she wasn’t afraid to speak about it. If families were in need she would speak up for them and help them and she would go to them and do whatever she could do. She would have been very active during the civil rights and believed very strongly in equality.”

Pat’s family thanked everyone who had visited Pat during her illness and who attended her wake and funeral, which was held in St. Michael’s Church Enniskillen on Tuesday.

Burial took place in Arney Cemetery with funeral arrangements by Enda Love and Sons Funeral Directors.

Pat’s loss is deeply regretted by her children; Philip, Nuala, Máire, Sinéad, Brían, Aíne, Nollaig and Meabh, grandchildren, great grandchildren, her ex-husband Bernard and entire family circle.