Introduction
To say the death of our sister Paula was devasting is an understatement. The grief that was visited on our family was horrendous. The loss of our beautiful Paula, our big sister, our second mother, my mas right hand woman and my dad's pride and joy. The grief and loss on the rest of our siblings, the sadness of our little sister who was Paula’s roommate.
Background
My siblings all younger had little idea what was happening, myself included. To see my parents’ whole world fall apart, neither knowing what had just happened. Paula went for a good night out and never came home. Watching my ma and da left wondering if Paula was crying for them in her final moments.
Stardust Fire
The wait to identify Paula’s body, the funeral, the crying, the grief was unbearable but had to be lived through. Then to add insult to the injury, the so-called experts tell us what our Paula was worth and what we should do to avoid getting involved in the legal system, that most of us would have known nothing about and that was beyond our reach as working-class people anyway.
Since then
To feel Paula’s loss at every family event, to know what she missed out on, her own wedding and her own family. To try and explain as we get older of how much we lost is impossible. We have never had or never will have closure, that’s just a fancy word people use but we may still have justice.
Conclusion
All of Paula’s family miss her every day. She never got the chance to live her life. And finally may I thank the Stardust Relatives Committee, whom have for the past 40 years kept fighting to get this far.
Many many thanks
