A FRIENDLY face at the South West Acute Hosptial, Sister Monica (Kitty) Gallagher, died peacefully there on Sunday week last, 13th September.

 

News of her death, following a seven-month illness, evoked genuine shock and regret among patients and staff alike and within the Mercy community and her own family.

 

Sr Monica was born in 1944 in Boho, a place she loved to visit and talk about. She was one of 10 children to Kathleen and James Gallagher who ran the local Post Office .

 

Sr Monica entered the Convent of Mercy in Enniskillen in 1963 and was professed in 1967. She  went to study nursing in Belfast and returned to the Erne Hospital, Enniskillen as a mid-wife. Some of the children she helped deliver were called ‘Monica’ in gratitude.

 

Her many fine qualities were highlighted by her friend, Fr Joe McVeigh, is his homily at the funeral Mass in Boho.

 

The main celebrant was Fr Jimmy McPhillips PP, Derrygonelly (Botha parish) who was assisted by 12 concelebrating priests from neighbouring parishes who got to know Sr Monica during the past two years when she was the official Catholic chaplain in SWAH.

 

The funeral was also attended by Church of Ireland Dean of Enniskillen, Kenneth Hall, who was a personal friend.

 

Sr Monica is survived by her sisters, Mary, Margaret, Sheila, Joan and Eileen and her brothers, Eamonn, Joseph, Sean and Peter and by her one surviving aunt, Kathleen Magee.