Mary Logue, mother of Omagh bombing victim Brenda Logue, shared a heartbreaking statement before passing, detailing trauma and her enduring grief.
Brenda Logue was only seventeen and a talented athlete. The 1998 bombing took her life way too soon.
Her mother, Mary Logue, sadly got cancer eight months ago. She passed away on November 10.
Before her death, she told her sons something she wanted in a statement. She could not give it herself to the inquiry.
Cathal, her oldest son, read the statement, while his brother, Carl, was there too. This happened on Wednesday for them.
Mary Logue’s statement started with August 15, 1998. It was a normal Saturday, and she and Brenda took her mother to town.
Carl usually came along with them, but he had a new job that day working for the ice cream man, which made him so happy.
Brenda walked out of the shop to see something. Mary said if Carl was there, he would have gone too, and they could have lost him also.
Mary remembered Brenda’s ponytail swished as she walked out, then the bomb threw Mary into a wall, knocking her out.
When she woke up, Brenda was gone, and she looked for her daughter. The scene was like a disaster movie, full of sounds and horror.
The bombing was on a Saturday, and Brenda’s body came home five days later. They buried her on Friday with family and friends.
Mary Logue said she had a great bond with Brenda. They were close, like mother and daughter in a treasured friendship.
The family had tough times after her marriage ended, often needing hand-me-down clothes.
Brenda wore her cousin’s dress at her First Holy Communion. The dress looked great on her, like a wedding dress.
The family settled later in Loughmacrory, where Brenda made lifelong friends who stay in touch with the family still.
People remembered Brenda fondly, recalling she took charge naturally and easily. They remember she always led, never followed.
She loved being around people and enjoyed having fun. Brenda led the local youth club, and she impacted the kids.
The inquiry also learned Brenda fought for girls to wear trousers at Dean Maguirc Secondary School. She thought skirts were unfair.
Brenda loved football deeply, and her brothers inspired that love. She was a “natural” goalkeeper because of them.
Brenda played for her club at many age levels. She joined the Tyrone minor and senior teams.
Her mother was told Brenda had potential, and she often wondered where she could have gone, which was hard not to imagine.
Tyrone ladies won All-Ireland in 2018 after losing the final the year before. Would Brenda have been on that team, and would she have lifted the trophy?
It was a special moment, but the grief and wonder never left their hearts at home.
The Tyrone County Board named a cup after Brenda. Her family presents the Junior Championship Cup ever since.
The Loughmacrory Ladies won it a year later, and Brenda’s team showed they could win. It was a heartfelt victory.
Mary proudly gave the cup to Brenda’s teammate, bittersweetly. It was a moment she would never ever forget, sadly.
Brenda Marie Logue, her niece, also won a tournament for her memory at Loughmacrory GAA.
Mary was too sick to see it because her chemotherapy kept her away. She couldn’t go with her son.
Cathal read his mother’s words that Brenda was robbed and never got to grow up, sadly, taken too soon that day.
She missed meeting someone special and falling in love. She never had her wedding day with family gathered.
While her sons coped with their sister’s death, their mother struggled with the loss. It broke them all in different ways.
The loss caused deep emotional damage, affecting everyone in her family. They could never forget such a day.
Mary told her words to her sons during her cancer care, feeling Brenda would know what to do.
Brenda would have comforted the boys and could be their mother when I am gone, she said. This hurt the family that day and forever.
Brenda’s mother also questioned if she would have gotten cancer at all later and if she would be healthier if Brenda lived.
They say stress feeds cancer. Was this from years of stress after burying her child so young, so early, because of the bomb?
She had nightmares for years, even though she was told the past was gone, and panic attacks crippled her, taking their toll sadly.
Sleeping pills did not stop nightmares, and she always had them still at night. She never went to Omagh town after the bombing changed her life.
They tried to cope with shock and depression plus rage, anger, and grief, which came in waves, up and down.
Some days were easier to bear, but other days felt like drowning. It took the wind from under their wings and left them reeling.
Each of her boys fell apart in different ways, but she could not help them much because she also struggled.
Mary Logue said their world broke, and the bombing shattered all their lives. Losing a child is a parent’s worst nightmare, and she lived that nightmare every day since.
