Women remember fathers killed in Troubles

Women remember fathers killed in Troubles

30 October 2024

THE daughters of two murdered police officers have remembered their fathers who were murdered by the IRA in Downpatrick in October 1983 in a church service in Down Cathedral.

William Finlay (55) and James Ferguson (53) were shot by the IRA while on foot patrol at the Meadowlands estate.

On Sunday, Mr Finlay’s daughter, Helen, and Mr Ferguson’s daughter, Sharon, remembered their fathers at  the dedication of a memorial quilt for victims of Northern Ireland’s troubled past in a service at the historic cathedral.

Both police officers were married and left behind widows and three children each.

They are among the 109 people killed in the Troubles who are remembered on the latest quilt organised by the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) dedicated during Sunday’s service taken by the Bishop of Down and Dromore, David McClay.

During the service, Helen said October 6, 1983, changed the lives of her and her immediate family forever.

She recalled how she had been just 13 and on a school trip when her father was killed. She returned home early and the next days passed in a blur.

“That night my Daddy was cruelly stolen from Mum and their three daughters who all went on to marry and to have kids,” she told a packed church.

“The family have also been blessed with five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren with two more due next year,” she said.

“I have missed out on Daddy teaching me how to drive; he never got to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day and he never got to pass on his wisdom and knowledge to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren as he had done with his own children.”

Helen added: “Not a day goes by when he is not missed but he will remain our hearts, young and old, and will never be forgotten. But 6 October 1983 changed my life and all my immediate family members forever.”

Sharon said she had been at choir practice in the same cathedral with her brother and sister on the night her father was killed.

She said that life went on, including looking after all the animals that her father cared for and thanked all those who supported her mother and family.

“All three of us completed our schooling, and Elaine and Roy went off to university to pursue the further education … we have all managed to find our own paths and have each formed successful work and family lives,” she said.

“We have all gone on to get married – but there is something always missing. Dad was not here to walk Elaine down the aisle though, as she got married in this very church and my Mum walked me down the aisle when I got married in Saintfield in the year 2000.”

Sharon added: “The repercussions of the traumatic event mean that the effects have transcended the generations, resulting in our children being denied the opportunity to have their maternal grandfather in any part of their lives.

“I am proud of my Daddy as I know Helen is of hers – our Daddies lived life well. They were determined to play their part in serving the community, their value system was sound and provided the foundation from which our lives and those of other members of our families have been built.”