Funeral of Pat Hume to take place in Derry today

The funeral of Pat Hume is to take place in Derry on Monday.

The wife of the former SDLP leader and Nobel Laureate John Hume, she has been hailed around the world for her contribution to the North's peace process.

The former US president Bill Clinton said she played an "enormous role in achieving peace in Northern Ireland" and "all of us who were blessed by the way she lived her life and advanced her cause with such grace, courage and good humour will be forever grateful".

Mrs Hume died at home on Thursday after a short illness.

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From Derry, she married John in 1960 and the couple had five children. She left teaching to manage his constituency office and later cared for him when he developed dementia.

Requiem Mass will be celebrated at 11am at St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry, where her husband’s funeral was held just over a year ago. It will also be streamed online.

Mrs Hume was awarded the Irish Red Cross Lifetime Achievement award in 2018 and the John and Pat Hume Foundation was launched last year to build on their work for peace and reconciliation.

The chair of the foundation, Sean Farren, said she was "always a source of strength and support to John sharing his values, his ideas and his approach to peace and to ending conflict".

Through her work in his constituency office she “assisted many young people caught up in the Troubles and dealt with issues presented to her by thousands who were encountering housing problems, social security issues and health and education concerns”.

“For her work on their behalf the people of Derry and beyond have a deep sense of gratitude,” he said.