Parents of the late Jenna Shovlin express their eternal gratitude

The parents of the late Jenna Shovlin said that they are “eternally grateful” to those who helped repatriate their daughter's remains.

Frankie and Kathleen Shovlin from The Rock, Clogher West, Portnoo were at the Abbey Hotel in Donegal Town to present the proceeds of a fundraising drive to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, following Jenna's sad passing at just 31 years of age in New York earlier this year.

A total of €74,200 was raised, with €15,500 of that courtesy of a concert in the Abbey Hotel featuring Onóir in August. Then, in October, a Gospel Concert featuring Patrick Feeney and the Kilcar Community Singers at the Church of the Holy Family in Ardara gathered €18,020, with the remainder of the total reached from donations.

Members of the Shovlin family - Kathleen, Frankie, Christopher and Keith together with band members from Onóir - Diarmaid McGee, Deane Connaghan and Declan Gaughan, presents a cheque for €15,500 to Colin and Eithne Bell, The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust

“It’s the phone call no parent wants to get and we got it on March 8, this year, a Saturday evening,” Jenna’s mother, Kathleen, said in Donegal Town.

“It was the evening of Frankie’s parents' anniversary mass. I don't know what mode we went into. The shock was unbelievable to lose Jenna. Our local politician, Pat the Cope Gallagher, came to us and told us he was going to go to Colin and Eithne Bell from Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust and they’re going to help us.

“We spoke to Colin on Sunday night and everything was taken care of. We had one issue. We just wanted to wake Jenna for two hours in New York as she had been there for eight years.

She had lots of colleagues and we wanted to do it for the Ardara community and the Irish community in New York.
“Colin said: ‘That’s not a problem,’ and we travelled out, seven of us. Frankie’s brothers Barney and Eamon, Eamon’s daughter Natalie, my brother Martin and his brother Lisa came with us. We needed every one of them. We are eternally grateful to the Trust, the groups who held the concerts and and to anyone who helped.”

Jenna worked with Warner Brothers in the United States, but kept firmly in contact with home and she was an immensely popular figure in south-west Donegal.

The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust helps to bring the bodies of people who have died abroad back to Ireland and has assisted in 2,310 repatriations to date, with 16 currently ongoing.

Members of the Shovlin family - Kathleen, Frankie, Christopher and Keith together with John Fox, Abbey Hotel and Liam Clancy, Director, Abbey Hotel presents a cheque for €18,020 to Colin and Eithne Bell, The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust

It was established by the Bell family from Newry, Co Down, following a personal tragedy. Colin and Eithne's 26-year-old son, Kevin, was killed in a suspected hit-and-run in New York in June 2013.

Jenna’s father Frankie said: “We often heard of the Kevin Bell Trust. We never thought we would have to use them, and when this happened to us, we didn’t know where to go. They did so much for us, as did everyone here. Thank you so much”.