LILY Fitzsimons has been remembered as "a strong immensely able woman" by former Sinn Féin party president Gerry Adams.
Originally from north Belfast, she moved to Turf Lodge on her marriage and it was there that she would make her name known for her fiery resilience, eventually representing the area on the then predominantly unionist Belfast City Council.
Mr Adams said Mrs Fitzsimons, who died on Saturday, had been "a key activist in the political status campaign in the 1970s and during the subsequent hunger strikes when her son Sean was on the blanket protest", taking to the streets to highlight the conditions under which republican prisoners were being held.
"She travelled widely to Britain and the USA to highlight the appalling conditions in the H-Blocks and Armagh Women’s Prison," he said.
He said her 1985 election as a Belfast councillor "sparked a vicious campaign by unionist councillors to deny Sinn Féin representatives any real say in the running of the council," where she and others "ran a daily gauntlet of physical and verbal threats and abuse," with "deodorant and other sprays.. used against them."
She and fellow representative Tish Holland "never backed down, they fought their corner and represented those who elected them."
"Lily was hugely respected and loved. She stood strong in defence of her community at a time when Sinn Féin councillors and activists and families were being attacked by unionist death squads," Mr Adams said, with "three councillors and 14 party activists killed," during her tenure.
"She believed passionately in the rights of citizens and she brought that passion to all of her work. She was an unapologetic united Irelander. A woman of compassion - who believed in equality and in citizens' rights."
Requiem Mass for Mrs Fitzsimons will take place on Thursday at 10am at Holy Trinity Church, followed by burial in City Cemetery.
She is survived by children Sean, Bobby, Margo and Gerard.
