HELEN McClenaghan was a widely respected former head of the Southern Education and Library Board.
From Portadown in Co Armagh, she began her career in education as a teacher of English at Portadown College, where she had been a pupil.
The school named a debating prize in her honour and principal Gillian Gibb described her as a “role model of wisdom and integrity for all those tasked with decision-making in the best interests of young people”.
Mrs McClenaghan joined the Armagh-based SELB in 1979 and was appointed its chief executive in 1998.
Over the next decade she steered the body through choppy educational waters as a new assembly and devolved government sought to make an impression.
She retired in 2009 but maintained an interest in schools as a member of the Church of Ireland’s Board of Education.
A sister of former Bishop of Derry and Raphoe Dr James Mehaffy, who predeceased her in January, she also sat on the Transferors’ Representative Council, which represents the educational interests of the main Protestant Churches.
It said: ‘Her knowledge, experience and insight, her resilience, her sterling service and contribution to the field of education and her concern for people were legendary.
“She was never too busy to make time for people and their problems, as a mentor inspiring and influencing many during her lifetime both within education and the women’s sector.”
Mrs McClenaghan was also chair of the Speedwell Trust, a Co Tyrone-based charity that promotes shared education and environmental learning programmes.
Vice-chair Eric Rainey said she was “a remarkable lady, passionate about children’s education, an early advocate of shared education in Northern Ireland, generous and compassionate.”
She was also a member of Craigavon Historical Society, where she organised lecture programmes and outings “with her characteristic blend of determination, selflessness, understatement and wit”.
Mrs McClenaghan received an OBE for her services to education.
She died a few weeks after her 78th birthday on June 4 and is survived by her husband Stephen, daughter Frances, son-in-law Rob and two grandchildren.
