By Michele Canning

ONE of the district's eldest residents passed away this month, at the age of 102.

Lily Sharpe, a spinster, had been living in Newtownstewart, her hometown, until her death on January 3.

Elizabeth 'Lily' Sharpe was born on October 23 1907 at Pubble, two miles outside of Newtownstewart on a farm.

She left Newtownstewart in her early 20s for Lisburn before moving to London where she lived during World War II. She stayed in England until she was in her late 50s, returning then to her hometown to look after her mother.

World War II

Her niece, Moira Sharpe, recalled the many events of Lily's life when she spoke to the Strabane Chronicle this week.

One of a family of 15, Lily had to leave school, Newtownstewart Model, when she was just 11 to take up a post in a house.

"She then moved with the family she worked for to Lisburn but once there moved to Kent with friends of that family, taking up a post with them."

Whilst there World War II broke out and Lily was conscripted to work in the ammunitions factory.

"Aunt Lily told us many horrific tales that she remembered during the war so life at that time would have been very hard for her.

"She would tell of the nightly air raids and how they knew what time the bombs would come.

"Her brothers visited her when she was in London and she would always have been worried that they left the City before the nightly bombings.

"I don't think she ever got home during the war.

"After the war she stayed in the city and worked for the Lady Mayoress of Woolwich.

"Lily had a great memory and was a great teller of stories.

"She recalls the bells ringing when she was small to signal the end of World War I and running home to find her mother crying. Her mother had lost her two brothers in the war.

"She also recalls the gas street lights being erected in Newtownstewart when she was a small girl."

Moira says her aunt was the backbone of the family.

"She was the hub of the network, she kept the family together.

Parcels

"She was always helping others, a giver rather than a receiver, and was always sending parcels home, remembering birthdays and sending cards."

When her father died Lily returned to Newtownstewart to look after her mother. She later lived with her brother.

A Church going woman, she refused to have any fuss to mark her 100th birthday celebrations. Instead, she agreed that money would go towards buying a communion cup for her Church, the Church of Ireland.

On her 101st and 102nd birthdays she received commemorative medals from Irish President Mary McAleese.

An independent resident at 5 Bessy Bell Court for many years, Lily was taken into Mary Gray Nursing Home over Christmas for respite care. It was there that she passed away.

"She was glad she was in the home, always thinking of someone else.

"She was more concerned that her carers, who would have come to the house daily, wouldn't have been able to get home in the bad weather, so that's why she was glad she was in Mary Grays."

Lily is survived by five of her siblings, May aged 95, Jim aged 86, twins Joe and Sadie who are 83 and Bell, aged 82.

With her passing has gone a little bit of history.