TRIBUTES have been paid to a West Belfast victims’ campaigner who has died of Covid-19.

70-year-old Turf Lodge woman Ann McMurray passed away in the Mater Hospital on Tuesday.

Ann was an integral part of the Ballymurphy Massacre campaign. Her lifelong friend Kathleen McCarry, whose brother Eddie Doherty was killed in the massacre, said Ann was “like a rock” for her during the inquest into the killings, which is still ongoing.

Kathleen grew up beside Ann in Beechmount and described her as “like family”.
In a moving tribute Kathleen told how Ann has spent her life “caring for others”.

“All she did all her life was look after people,” she said.

“Her mummy had a brother and sister in law who lived in California and they came home because they weren’t very well and Ann cared for them. When her uncle died the wife asked her to move in with her to look after her, which she did. When her own daddy took sick she cared for him, and when her mummy took sick  she cared for her. She cared for her mummy’s brother when he took ill.”

She added: “She was as carer and a giver – that was her nature.”
Kathleen said that Ann was very much a family woman, and shared a close bond with her brother Samuel, who she idolised, and her sister-in-law Patsy, from who she was inseparable.

Given Ann’s concern for others, Kathleen talked of how she had thrown herself wholeheartedly into the Ballymurphy Families’ campaign for truth.

“She was a girl who was very caring, and when I asked her one time if she would go to a conference for the Ballymurphy Massacre she was delighted to go,” she said.

“She was like family to the whole Ballymurphy families. She loved being a part of it. She loved being part of the inquest, and she was like a rock for me. Ann McMurray was there for me, and it wasn’t easy.”

During the Ballymurphy inquest Ann would often slip sweets to security guards at the courts who, like others, came to appreciate her good humour.

“She got to know them too,” Kathleen recalled.

“We would’ve said to her ‘You’re a geg, you know everybody.’

“She said ‘Sure it’s nice to be nice.’

“She would’ve gone into the court, she had her bag of sweets and she would’ve ruffled them. Kidding on, Ciarán (Cahill) would’ve tutted, and she would’ve thumped me with her elbow and said ‘Sure, listen to Ciarán’ as she was giving out the sweets.”

She would’ve gone into the court, she had her bag of sweets and she would’ve ruffled them. Kidding on, Ciarán (Cahill) would’ve tutted, and she would’ve thumped me with her elbow and said ‘Sure, listen to Ciarán’ as she was giving out the sweets.”

Ann had suffered for a long time with COPD, but had “never complained” of her condition. However, after being referred to the Mater three weeks ago due to breathing difficulties, she was admitted to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.

“Nobody could go near her or see her, but apparently there were two nurses with her when she died and they were very good,” Kathleen said.

“She texted me at six minutes past 12 yesterday to say ‘I’ve just got the last rites.’ I said to my husband, ‘Oh, Sacred Heart of Jesus, I didn’t think it was that bad.’ She died at two o’clock.”

Kathleen said Ann’s death was a sad reminder of the danger posed by Covid-19, and urged people to take the virus seriously.

In a statement released on behalf of the Ballymurphy families, Ciarán Cahill of Springhill Community House said: “Gone are the names and faces behind Covid deaths, 13 in the last 24 hours. Sadly Ann McMurray is one of those 13.

“Ann was a lifelong friend to Kathleen McCarry, sister of Eddie Doherty, they were like sisters. She was a gentle woman but a tower of strength to Kathleen.
“She attended the Ballymurphy inquests and Ballymurphy Massacre events in support of her forever friend and the Doherty family.

“Our heartfelt condolences to her brother, his family and to Kathleen.

“Covid is real, Ann is the face of it, we owe it to her and all those who have died of Covid to act responsibly, keep our distance, wear a mask and sanitise our hands.

“It's not about what the government say, or don't, its about personal responsibility. We all know what we have to do, we're in this together, our collective actions saved lives before and can do again.”

Ann is survived by her brother Samuel McMurray and his family and her sister-in-law Patsy McMurray and family.