THE parish of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Windleshaw, is mourning the death of a woman who was 'an integral part of its fabric,' and who made more than 50 pilgrimages to Lourdes.

Miss Mary Margaret Ripley, of Swinburne Road, Dentons Green, died in Whiston Hospital at the age of 85, just days after returning from one of her regular visits to another shrine of Our Lady - on this occasion Walsingham.

Born-and-bred in Greenfield Road, she was pre-deceased by her sister, Anne, and brother Francis, a priest-author and Canon of the Liverpool Archdiocese, and is survived by five nieces and cousin Agnes Swift.

A teacher trained at the College of the Immaculate Conception, Southampton, Mary taught at Windleshaw junior school for more than 40 years, and was a member of St. Helens Retired Teachers' Association.

A daily communicant, Miss Ripley was organist and sacristan at St. Thomas of Canterbury, and also supervised the altar servers' rota, launched the Guide group, and was president of the church's branch of the Legion of Mary.

She was closely involved with the Lourdes' Handmaid's Association, and it was while on pilgrimage to the French shrine several years ago that Mary received the Papal honour 'Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice.'

A special service of the Rosary was said for Miss Ripley at St. Thomas of Canterbury church, and a Funeral Mass concelebrated by ten priests and attended by a massive number of mourners was held there followed by burial in Windleshaw Abbey.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.