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 this week, following the death of the veteran councillor at his Bridge Street home last Friday evening. He was 70.
More than a thousand people gathered at Melmount Parish Church on Monday to pay their respects to Mr Barr and his heartbroken family.
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, Mr Barr 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 and in the face of strong opposition, he was elected as Strabane's first ever Sinn Fein councillor.
In 1988, Mr Barr secured the unprecedented position of chairman of Strabane District Council, a post he would hold three times in all throughout his political career, 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, Mr Barr was always regarded as the gentleman of local politics and was renowned for possessing a great love of his home town and his determination to improve the lives of the people in it.
The high esteem in which he was held was evident by the hundreds who gathered behind Mr Barr's coffin on Monday morning.
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 family 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. Also by sons and daughters, Jeffrey, Ivan, Liam, Deane, Sean, Anne-Marie and Judith.
Jeffrey Barr, Ivan's son, spoke of the immense influence his father has had on both his family and the Strabane community as a whole.
"My dad never believed in sectarianism or bigotry. He had his beliefs but he would never try to take us down the same route. He told us to find our own level, but never to forget that you have your own community and District and to try and make a difference where possible," Jeff said.
