The late Irish News journalist Dawn Egan has been remembered as “a brave and courageous woman” by friends and family.
Originally from west Belfast, she settled with her husband Mark and their four children – Patrick, Mark Jr, Christopher and Catriona - in the Kircubbin area of the Ards Peninsula.
Passing away from a short illness, not long after her Irish News colleague, photographer Hugh Russell, Dawn spent nearly four decades with the paper and was praised as a pioneer in her profession.
Becoming one of the first women to work as a compositor in the ‘hot metal’ days of newspaper production in Belfast, she later retrained as a journalist and was highly regarded for her popular wine column and work with the features department.
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At St Joseph’s Church in Kircubbin today, retired priest Fr Anthony Alexander said that only weeks ago she had spoken at his farewell Mass in the same building.
“Dawn was a brave and courageous woman. Dawn accepted all the challenges of life,” he said.
“Today, we come to my turn to say farewell to Dawn. People are well aware that I officiated at her wedding ceremony to Mark in 1988, 35 years ago this Sunday coming.
“Whatever it did it worked… but today we come in a different spirit.
“There’s a lot of sadness, a lot of shock. But we live again because Dawn was a woman of great hope, a woman of faith.
“And a woman who went through life accepting whatever happened with true humility.”
As “a wee west Belfast girl who married a guy from Kircubbin,” he said she quickly became a treasured member of the church community.
“She was involved very much in the life of the parish, serving as a eucharistic minister,” he said.
“One of four who kept us floating during Covid. Out there in the car park in rain, snow and wind.”
Describing a “fabulous attitude to life,” he said she was selflessly devoted to her family, a trusted colleague and had a love of reading and walking.
“We rejoice that she was part of our lives for so long, sorry it wasn’t any longer but that’s how God had it planned,” he said.
“We were lucky we knew her, the children were lucky she was their mother and Mark that she was your wife.”
One of the many tributes ahead of the service came from St Joseph’s GAA club in Ballycran, where Dawn’s husband is chairman and two of her children are current senior hurlers.
Irish News Editor Noel Doran had also remembered her as “a trusted colleague to friends,” and that he would miss her briefings on the complexities of Ards hurling.
"It is particularly poignant that she and Hugh Russell have died within such a short period, as they were close in every sense through their adjoining desks, their practice of being the first employees into our office each morning, and their shared commitment to the values of The Irish News.”
Assistant Editor Will Scholes also remembered her as being “a formidable production journalist” with a sound judgement and a flair for detail.
"But more than that, Dawn was a wonderful person. Utterly selfless and humble, she was full of a warmth and wisdom that were illuminated by her vivid faith."
