Marilyn Balding talked to the News Letter from her mother’s house in Holywood last night, hours after Noreen died and recalled the most “caring, devoted, heroic” woman she has ever known.

Noreen, who nursed her late husband Ronnie throughout his 13-year coma following the 1987 blast, has been hailed as one half of a great love story of the Troubles.

The mother-of-four, who died at around midnight yesterday after battling lung cancer, lovingly tended Ronnie every day after he was injured in the Provisional IRA massacre at the Enniskillen cenotaph.

The blast killed 11 and injured 63 people.

His death at Christmas 2000, just over a week away from his 69th birthday, was the end of another sad chapter in the story of the victims of violence in Northern Ireland, making him the 12th fatality of the massacre.

Noreen, his quietly courageous wife of 44 years, was with him when he died in the nursing home she had bought to care for him in Holywood.

Last night, heartbroken Marilyn – mum of two of Noreen’s seven grandchildren – said: “She was very strong, and probably the most determined lady I’ve known.

“She just loved her family, and sacrificed a lot to care for my dad. Her strength came from her love of the Lord, as she was a devout Christian right up to the end.

“My mum did a great job, and she, and all of her family, believed it’s very important that terrorism is wiped out forever. She always said it was a terrible evil.”

For the first four years while Ronnie lay in hospital, Noreen stayed with him every night.

Then she bought a residential home for him – and lived in a small flat at the top of the complex so she could be close to him at all times.

Ronnie, a former headmaster of Enniskillen High School, suffered a fractured skull, jaw, shoulder and pelvis in the attack.

It was his hand poking through the rubble that saved him when it was spotted by rescuers who scrambled to unearth him.

On the 10th anniversary of the blast, his widow talked candidly about her enduring love for her late husband, who was also a lay preacher and Bible class teacher.

She said: “I don't know who planted the bomb.

“Someone said, however, that until they get the Lord in their hearts, it won't make any difference. And I pray for them all.”

And in 2001, Noreen called for an end to so-called punishment beatings and shootings.

She slammed weapons as an “evil” influence on life in Northern Ireland, adding: “I would like to see arms and such out of the community. I would like to see the beatings and shootings all stopped.

“I should hope that my children won't ever get beaten up or knee-capped, but it is happening here in Northern Ireland.”

Marilyn revealed her mother “began to slow down” in the last two years as the cancer advanced.

“In the last months, myself and my husband and two children moved in with my mother as she gradually got worse.