A MONTH after she first went missing, close to 150 people, many who had never met her, walked in memory of Drogheda woman Jill Meagher yesterday afternoon.
The circumstances of her disappearance, as she walked home after a night out with colleagues in Melbourne, Australia, have echoed with families around the world and yesterday her aunt Catherine McKeon Halpin said Jill would have wanted young women, “to live their life and not be afraid”.”
Speaking as she watched young girls play frisbee in St Dominic’s Park, Drogheda, after the walk, her aunt added: “Those girls playing today in their pink legwarmers should, in 20 years’ time, be able to go and live their lives. They should not feel they have to look over their shoulders, they should not be afraid to go out. That is what Jill would want. It is what she did.
“I dressed them in their legwarmers and bright colours after I saw it being requested by the organisers of the walk. I didn’t know Jill but I watched the CCTV clip that was released when they were looking for her and I was saying please God they will get her and she will be okay,” said Sandra Brooks, Drogheda, who took her three daughters on the walk.
Jill’s uncle, Michael McKeon, told the crowd: “With the sun shining Jill is actually looking down on us now.” One of the last things Jill did was play frisbee with her parents and brother in Perth a few days before her death.
The walk was organised by former school friends of Jill who were in her Leaving Certificate year at St Oliver’s Community College in Drogheda and wanted a way for her to be remembered.Among them was Liz Logan who flew from Missouri in the US to take part.
“Jill was a good friend to me. She was the only one who wrote to me after I left for America. I will always remember her for her Australian accent. She was always giggling and she always saw the good in everything,” she said.
Patricia O’Malley read a poem that Jill wrote for her friends for when they were feeling troubled.
A cherry blossom tree will be planted in her memory on the school grounds.