Ashes of late Canadian doctor Mary Balfe Campeau interred at her ancestral Wicklow home

It was the dearest wish of Mary that she return home to Ireland from her home in Kingston, Ontario, after her passing to rest in the land of her ancestors from where Thomas Balfe and Sarah Kenny departed for Canada in 1847.

And on Friday morning last, those wishes were granted with the utmost respect and decency when her cousin, John Balfe, from North Bay in Ontario, knelt in front of the headstone of Mary's family and placed a simple but precious wooden urn into the soil into a grave not disturbed since way back in 1932.

From that same soil, Mary's ancestors forged a life for themselves in tough times, as famine ravaged the land. But with desperation great, Thomas and Sarah, like so many other residents of Coollattin Estate, made the profoundly difficult decision to head across the wild Atlantic in search of a new beginning, in search of hope.

Mary was born in 1940 to a family now well established in the Canadian province of Ontario and farming in tough but happy and contented circumstances.

A kind and generous person, Mary went on to have a successful real estate business in Kingston, but her life will be remembered as having been one of fulfilment and goodness.

She received a masters in Canadian Literature from Queens University, was elected as the first woman to serve as President of the Kingston and Area Real Estate Association and completed her PhD at Queen's in Geography and Planning in 2019.

Generosity and kindness are two words that are used when people speak of Mary. She was heavily involved in volunteering her time to worthy causes, including the settling of refugees into her local area in recent years.

Speaking during the ceremony conducted by Fr Martin Casey at St. Brigid's Church in Tomacork, Mary's cousin, John Balfe, said that her return to her ancestral homeland was the completion of the circle of life.

"Today, we remember the brave people who left this homeland to make a new life in Canada," John said.

"We thank Bridget and the Kenny family who welcome Mary home to this sacred ground in Tomacork, completing the circle of life."

Mary had enjoyed visits home to Ireland in the past and had felt a deep connection with her homeland, which made her return last Friday morning an occasion of poignancy and sadness but also one of profoundness and peacefulness.