Mourners at the funeral of west Belfast woman Maria McConnell heard how she had fought depression during most of her life yet still felt she had "so much to offer others".
Hundreds of people attended Ms McConnell's funeral on the Glen Road. Among them were Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams MP, MLA and the SDLP's Dr Joe Hendron, MLA.
Father Connla O Dulaine SJ, a cousin of Ms McConnell's mother, said Maria had been "nurtured in a loving Christian family". Her family is well known in the area and her father, Mr Frank McConnell, is a reader at the church where the service took place. Her mother, Mrs Nuala McConnell, is in the choir of a neighbouring church that Maria had attended regularly. Father O Dulaine read from a prayer diary of Maria's. He said her teachers remarked how she had always smiled.
Maria disappeared on a rare night out on July 14th, and her body was not discovered for 13 days. During the search for her, it emerged that on the night she disappeared, she had been seen asking people in the pub whether they knew of any good parties.
Ms McConnell was buried at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast. She is survived by her parents and her two brothers, Peter and John.