By Conor Sharkey
"MORE than a politician, more than a husband, brother, father or grandfather, Ivan Barr was a giant of a man."
Just one the hundreds of moving tributes that poured in following the sudden death of the veteran councillor at his Bridge Street home last Friday evening. He was 70.
Over 1000 people gathered at St Mary's Church, Melmount, on Monday to pay their respects.
Ivan Barr rose to prominence in the late 1960's as a leading member of the Strabane Civil Rights Association.
After accepting the chair of the local Civil Rights group, he was elected as leader of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, a post he held until his internment on board the Maidstone Prison Ship in the early 1970's.
Following his release, he continued to be involved with the Republican Movement, however towards the end of the 1970's, he opted out of politics altogether.
The Hunger Strike campaign of 1980/81 forced Mr Barr back into the political limelight and in 1985, he decided to throw his hat into the arena of local government. Later that year he was elected as Strabane's first ever Sinn Fein councillor.
In 1988, Mr Barr secured the unprecedented position of Chairman of Strabane Council, a post he would hold three times, in 1988/89, 1998/99 and 2001/02. Sadly, he had been relishing the challenge of taking on the chairmanship again over the next few weeks.
Throughout his 23 years in local government, Ivan Barr was regarded as the gentleman of local politics, renowned for possessing a great love of his home town and a determination to improve the lives of the people in it.
Draped in both a Tricolour and the Starry Plough and led by a lone piper, the coffin was carried from his Bridge Street home to Melmount Church, where Fr Pat O'Hagan celebrated Requiem Mass.
Following a graveside oration by his lifelong friend Liam McElhinney, Mr Barr's remains were laid to rest in Melmount Cemetery, as the sound of socialist anthem Joe Hill filled the graveyard.
Mr Barr is survived by his wife Judy, brothers Tommy, Raymond and Charlie, sisters Finwell Peake and Wilma McNally.
He is also survived by sons, Jeffrey, Ivan, Liam, Dean, Sean and daughters Anne-Marie and Judith.
He is predeceased by his eight year old daughter Karen, who died tragically in a house fire in 1985 at the family's then Ballycolman home.
