FRANCES O'BOYLE: FRANCES O'BOYLE, who has died aged 70, was a Tyrone woman who made a major contribution to the life of Scotland.
She was responsible for reforming violent criminals through education. The Scottish Parliament named her as a “local hero” in 2004. At the time of her death, she sat on the board of Rape Crisis Scotland, and was a member of the Scottish Parliament’s Group on Men’s Violence Against Women and Children.
Frances O’Boyle was born in Strabane in 1939 to Thomas Quigley and his wife Mary (née Devlin), the eldest of their four children.
After education at the town’s Convent of Mercy she studied at the Queen’s University, Belfast, then returned to teach in Strabane. As a young teacher she was a talented amateur actor, winning several awards at festivals.
In 1966 she moved to Aberdeen to further her education. There she met Armagh man Dr Colm Ó Baoill, a lecturer in Celtic studies at the Aberdeen University. They married and she made the city her home.
She had a commitment to the disadvantaged. She went in to Aberdeen’s Craiginches Prison as a volunteer to teach basic literacy. She moved on to become education organiser at Peterhead Prison for over a decade. Peterhead was then known as “Scotland’s Gulag” because it held some of the country’s most violent criminals.
Frances stayed in contact with several of her former students after their release. One is among the family’s closest friends.
In 1995 Frances took up an equally strong challenge, as co-ordinator of the St Machar Parent Support Project in one of Aberdeen’s most deprived areas. This supports parents whose children are in the educational system.
An important part of its work was a project for children excluded from school due to behavioural difficulties. This delivered solid achievement.
The Times Educational Supplement was impressed by the way it had “set up a number of initiatives, including one-to-one support, a parents’ drama group, parenting classes and a
homework group, to enable parents to encourage their children to have a positive and rewarding experience of the educational system”.
Frances’ commitment to disadvantaged children continued in retirement. At the time of her death she was chair of the Children’s Panel (similar to the Children’s Court) Advisory Committee in Aberdeen.
She is survived by her husband, Colm, daughters Máire, Catriona and Fionnuala, grandsons Leo and Calum, sister Dolores, and brothers Michael and Thomas.
Francis O’Boyle: Born October 16th 1938; died February 10th 2009