Kathleen Savage vividly recalls attending the funeral of Charles English in the Long Tower in 1985.

The Bogside republican was killed in a premature explosion at the junction of Abbey Street and William Street.

Kathleen attended the 21-year-old’s wake in Cable Street almost 41 years ago.

"At that time the war was going on. The first experience I had in Derry was the funeral of Charles English,” the Massachusetts woman told the ‘Journal’ after she was received by the mayor in the Guildhall.

Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Sister and frequent visitor to Derry Kathleen Savage with the Mayor of Derry/Strabane Ruairí McHugh and Councillor Aisling Hutton.

placeholder image — Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Sister and frequent visitor to Derry Kathleen Savage with the Mayor of Derry/Strabane Ruairí McHugh and Councillor Aisling Hutton.

“We went to the home for the wake and I distinctly remember his mummy had been on holidays in Dublin and she had just seen her son in the coffin.

“It was awful. It stuck with me for a long time."

Kathleen was back in Derry as part of a delegation with the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians.

She first came here as a representative of Irish Northern Aid in the 1980s and came to the city on four consecutive fact-finding tours organised by Martin Galvin’s Irish People newspaper.

Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Sister and frequent visitor to Derry Kathleen Savage being recieved by Mayor of Derry/Strabane Ruairí McHugh in the Guildhall.

“I made a lot of friends,” she said, including the late Martin McGuinness.

Friend and local republican Damien McCafferty said: “I first met her at Charles English’s funeral. That’s how long she has been coming to Derry.”

Mr. McCafferty spoke of how she was a prolific correspondent with republican prisoners in jails in the 1980s and 1990s.

"She wrote and communicated with every single prisoner in every prison throughout Ireland and Britain. She is well known in many circles within the republican and nationalist family,” he observed.

Kathleen Savage with Martin Ferris and Pádraig Delargy on a previous trip to the Bogside.

Kathleen explained: "There was a woman that got onto the bus and said they wanted names and addresses. She said she had friends in Long Kesh who would like to communicate.” She gave her home address in Lynn, Massachusetts on the road between Boston and Salem.

"I wrote birthday cards. I got a list of birthdays from Mike Duffy who was from Philadelphia and I sent birthday cards every month for 12 years,” she told the ‘Journal’.

"I have visited 'the Crum' or Crumlin Road Jail, Long Kesh, Portlaoise and Maghaberry.”

Kathleen has been a member of the LAOH since 1982 and has returned to Derry in that capacity time and time again.

Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Sister and frequent visitor to Derry Kathleen Savage being received by Mayor of Derry/Strabane Ruairí McHugh in the Guildhall. Included are friends and fellow LAOH members, Councillor Aisling Hutton, Martin Galvin and Damian McCafferty.

She has, of course, been struck by the transformation of the city over the past forty years.

"It's been wonderful to see. It's wonderful to see it is no longer considered an occupied country. It's amazing to see now the freedom that people have,” she said.

As a sister of the LAOH she is very proud of her Irish roots.

"Actually my mother was all Canadian-French but my father was Irish descent. His grandfather was from County Louth, I believe. His mother was actually from England,” she told us.

Kathleen has been a recipient of the LAOH Constance Markievicz Award, recognising an outstanding commitment to community, peace, and justice.

During her visit to Derry she was received in the mayor’s parlour in the Guildhall by the Mayor of Derry and Strabane Ruairí McHugh.