Berna McIvor:BERNA McIVOR, who has died aged 78, was a leading activist in the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), John Hume's election agent for many years and a prominent public figure in Northern Ireland who served on the Parades Commission.
She devoted much of her life to the cause of peace and justice in Northern Ireland since her days as a civil rights campaigner in the 1970s. She believed passionately that Ireland’s Troubles could only be resolved through peaceful and democratic means. Tributes from senior party figures have revealed the important role she played in the peace process.
The former SDLP leader and party co-founder, Nobel peace laureate John Hume, described her as “an inspirational figure” who had been “a tower of strength through many dark and difficult times” and whose “great counsel allowed us to enjoy so many remarkable achievements”. He noted that “while she never sought the limelight, she was unstinting in her dedication to her community, her country and to peace” and had “always remained true to her principles and convictions – her belief in justice, peace, fairness and equality never wavered”.
Another former leader of the party, Mark Durkan, MP for Foyle, called her “a towering stalwart for the SDLP – not just in Derry, but throughout Ireland” who “believed totally in public service and gave of herself, not just in her public appointments, but in many personal commitments. Even in the darkest days of the Troubles, Berna believed in the importance of democratic non-violent politics and she always believed in the potential for peace, stability and shared institutions.”
Party leader Margaret Ritchie, MP for South Down, described McIvor as “a true heroine of the SDLP and a cornerstone of the party” and “a courageous, principled and determined woman who was never afraid to speak her mind or stand up for what she believed in”.
A native of Coalisland, Co Tyrone, McIvor (née Spellman) trained as a teacher at St Mary’s College, Belfast, and taught at the Long Tower school in Derry’s Bogside and later at Faughanvale, Co Derry, where she helped to found a credit union.
She married businessman Ivan McIvor and moved to Derry city, where they raised five children. As director of elections, she oversaw many campaigns for the SDLP in the Westminster general elections for the Foyle constituency and for local elections to Derry City Council.
She was refreshingly outspoken, and once expressed her dismay at the reluctance of so many women to join political parties, remarking: “Too many middle-class women stay out of politics and play bridge and golf instead.”
At her home in Derry she kept in touch with events on both sides of the Border by reading The Irish Times"religiously every day" and watching the TV news, on the BBC at 6pm and then on RTÉ at 9pm.
Fervently interested in the welfare and education of young people, she also served as a member of the Foyle Health and Social Services Trust, the Western Area Adoption Panel and the Probation Board of Northern Ireland. Pupils of local schools, of which she was a governor, provided a guard of honour at her funeral.
She was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Yet just three weeks before she died, and despite being seriously ill, she travelled to Belfast for the annual SDLP conference on November 6th where she was delighted to see Hume receive “Ireland’s Greatest” award, as voted by RTÉ viewers, from broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan.
Apart from politics and current affairs she was a keen reader and liked to travel. Among memorable trips, she cherished the one to Oslo to attend the prize-giving ceremony for John Hume’s Nobel Prize; a visit to Moscow in 1985 with her daughter Mary; and, like many Irishwomen of her generation, visits to her emigrant children: Orla in Chicago and Sara in Melbourne.
While serving as a member of the board of Independent News and Media (Northern Ireland), publisher of the Belfast Telegraph, she visited South Africa and met Nelson Mandela. But she loved Derry and, as Pól Callaghan, the SDLP’s MLA for Foyle, noted, she “was hugely excited that Derry is to be City of Culture 2013 and it is a true pity that she hasn’t lived to see it”.
She was devoted to her family and was surrounded by them when she died peacefully at the Foyle Hospice last Tuesday week. Following her funeral Mass in Derry, which some friends and political admirers could not attend because of the adverse weather, she was laid to rest in St Patrick’s Cemetery, Iskaheen, Co Donegal, beside her husband, who predeceased her following a road traffic incident in January 2006.
She is survived by daughters Mary, Orla and Sara; sons Ivan and Ronan; daughters-in-law Marie and Deirdre; son-in-law Robert, and grandchildren Oran, Eve, Conor, Lorcan and Nathan.
Berna McIvor, born February 9th, 1932; died November 30th, 2010