The John and Pat Hume Foundation has urged people to refocus on the Nobel laureate’s calls for peace as the 30th anniversaries of the Greysteel massacre and the Shankill bombing are commemorated.
In a statement marking the Greysteel anniversary, Foundation chairwoman, Dawn Purvis said the late Mr Hume recommitted himself to ending violence despite the intense political and media pressure the massacres placed on his talks with Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams.
One of the most striking images from the Greysteel killings was the image of the late Mr Hume sobbing on his wife, Pat’s shoulder.
In the two weeks surrounding the Shankilll bomb and the Greysteel massacre, 24 people were killed in the Troubles. Mr Hume - who was already being pilloried by the Dublin media over his talks with Mr Adams - came under intense pressure to stop his negotiations.
At the Greysteel victims’ funerals, the former SDLP leader was met by a daughter of one of the victims who urged him to continue his work for peace. Overwhelmed, he broke down and sobbed on his wife’s shoulder as the world media captured the moment.
Mr Hume later revealed what the young woman said to him.
“She told me that her family prayed for me around the coffin of her loved one the night before and they prayed that I would be successful in my work to get the violence ended so that no other family would suffer what they had suffered,” he said.
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Acting chairwoman of the John and Pat Hume Foundation, Ms Purvis said Monday’s 30th anniversary of the massacre should refocus views on Mr Hume’s efforts for lasting peace.
Ms Purvis said: “John was overwhelmed and broke down in tears. We will never forget the images. John did not give up on lasting peace and recommitted himself to non-violent peaceful change. Sadly, it took thousands of lives lost before all parties recognised that more could be achieved through dialogue and democratic politics than by the gun and violence.”
The Foundation chairwoman said Mr Hume’s ambitions for peace should be recalled on the 30th anniversary. He said that in his Nobel peace prize address in 1995 the Derry man spoke of the “extraordinary courage and fortitude” of innocent victims of violence.
Mr Hume said: “I want to see Ireland as an example to men and women everywhere of what can be achieved by living for ideals, rather than fighting for them, and by viewing each and every person as worthy of respect and honour.”
Less than a year after the Greysteel and Shankill massacres, the IRA announced its first “cessation” of violence on August 31 1994.
