Leona Harper (14) was the final of the victims to be faraway from the scene of the explosion in Creeslough final Friday.
he was selecting an ice cream from the fridge on the Applegreen store when the blast occurred, having stopped off on her strategy to a pal’s home for a sleepover.
Leona lived in Mountain Prime, Letterkenny, together with her dad and mom Donna and Hugh and brothers Anthony and Jamie, with whom she was very shut – they did all the things collectively.
At her former main faculty, Scoil Mhuire Ramelton, academics recalled she was “a stunning little lady, nice, quiet and self-effacing”.
At Mulroy School in Milford she was about to enter her Junior Cert yr. There, her principal and academics spoke of a contented lady who radiated love and kindness and appreciated all the things faculty gave her.
Leona was a gifted participant with the Letterkenny Rugby Membership and, impressed by Kellie Harrington and Katie Taylor, she had taken up boxing.
She supported Liverpool FC, which reached out to the household in a message of help.
Leona additionally liked dance, hair and vogue, however had a ardour for the outside, going to automobile reveals, and he or she loved fishing, searching and agriculture.
The rugby membership in Letterkenny, the place she performed for the under-14s, bear in mind her as somebody who favored to push the boundaries and check out new issues.
Her aggressive edge and sporting prowess have been evident again then when she was six.
She was “an absolute pleasure” to educate together with her nice angle and her nice sense of humour.
On the pitch she was fiercely aggressive, and though nonetheless studying the sport, she was growing right into a improbable younger participant.
Talking on Highland Radio within the wake of the tragedy, her mom described Leona as a “lovely” younger lady who by no means gave her dad and mom “any bother”.
Leona, for the previous yr or so, had been going to the teenage disco together with her brother Jamie.
Her father described her as “a little bit gem, very outgoing and really pleasant – a stunning particular person”.
He mentioned she was very, very particular and was going to be very sorely missed.
When the tragedy occurred, the household have been instructed there was a risk Leona was on her strategy to the hospital.
It was 24 hours earlier than her physique was discovered. She was the final taken out, her mom mentioned.
She paid tribute to the medical doctors and to everyone concerned in her daughter’s restoration, notably the digger driver who she mentioned “didn’t cease till he obtained her”.
In a put up on-line, Leona’s brother Anthony mentioned: “I don’t know the place to start, Leona, I couldn’t have requested for a greater sister. All of us love you a lot.”
