Enniskillen hero who died from Covid-19 passed away listening to his former band

"They (hospital staff) told me they had gone into the room and found that he had passed away. He died without anyone with him - he died alone," his daughter Hazel Gray said.

"The only comfort I have is that he was listening to Ballyreagh. I don't know how long for, but he was listening to it and that means everything to me."

George and Violet, who were married for 53 years, were treated in separate but side-by-side rooms at South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, having been admitted within four days of each other. They were buried side-by-side at the family's plot at Tempo Parish Churchyard.

Clutching photos of the couple, who adored their grandchildren Matthew, Rebecca and Emily, Hazel said: "I'd love to see something to make me think they are together, that they are looking down on me and my daughters, that they are happy. I'd love to see two wee twinkling stars in the sky, then I'd know they're okay.

"There are no words to describe the feeling of both my parents being gone. It's beyond belief. They relied on each other so much - they were a double act. I hope they are together."

Their love for each other was evident when they were in hospital, with staff wheeling Violet into George's room so they could share a final meal.

It has been a heartbreaking time for Hazel, whose world stopped turning in the early hours of December 16 when she received a phone call from the hospital to say her father had died.

His wife was in the other room, on the other side of the wall, when he passed away, and nurses had to break the news to her. Gravely ill, she was unable to attend her husband's funeral.

"She had to lie in that hospital bed on her own grieving because nobody could be with her," said Hazel who only got to see her mother after her father's funeral.

Two hours before George's funeral, a doctor phoned Hazel to say medics were growing concerned about her mother's health, fearing she may not make it. Later that evening, Hazel visited her with a video she had made of her father's funeral which she wanted to share with her.

"I would not have been surprised if she had died at that very moment because she was very poorly. I played the clip and when she heard the hymn Abide with Me, her eyes opened," she said.

But it wasn't to last. On January 17, Violet died. Her passing was conveyed to her daughter in the same way her husband's death was - by telephone.

"My heart jumped out of my chest when the phone rang and it was another private number. The nurse said, 'I'm sorry to have to ring to tell you, but your mother died in her sleep'. I was gutted," Hazel recalled.

As the hearse stopped outside the family home on the morning of Violet's funeral on January 19, local singer Maria Cameron performed Songbird by Eva Cassidy and the couple's favourite, Abide with Me - the hymn that pleads for God to be always present, even in death.

It was revealed yesterday that a further 17 people had died after testing positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.

The Department of Health also confirmed another 455 positive cases of the virus on Saturday.

More than 220,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered so far.

Sunday Life