Double funeral for tragic Covid couple who died 12 hours apart

Owen and Bredge Ward, both 69, from Strabane died just 12 hours apart earlier this week after contracting Covid-19.

One of the couple’s sons, Martin Ward, said that although his mother’s condition had been deteriorating, his father appeared to be on the mend.

However, his mother died and his father’s condition “completely collapsed within a couple of hours” of her death.

At the double funeral in Melmount Parish Strabane on Wednesday afternoon, parish priest Fr Michael Doherty said: “The love of their lives was their ever-growing family, their children and their grandchildren.”

He said Owen had used his joinery skills to help build the church 50 year ago, got married in it 18 months later, and had remained heavily involved in the life of the church ever since.

Fr Doherty said it was a sad sight to see two coffins together for a funeral, describing it as a stark reminder of the brutality of the coronavirus.

He poignantly pointed out how sad it was to see the two coffins together - a stark reminder of the cruel brutality of coronavirus, however, even coronavirus could not part them he told mourners

“They were most happy when spending time with family and each other, doing simple things from going for walks together, Owen spending time with the dogs or Bredge reading, baking and knitting.”

Fr Doherty added: “Because of the way that the coronavirus has changed our lives, the Ward children and grandchildren have not been able to have the comfort of being able to wake them as they would have wanted or have their funeral mass and burial in our traditional way. They have not been able to listen at this time to the stories that many people would like to tell of Bredge and Owen.

“But what we do today, we do for the safekeeping of ourselves and each other in what we call these strange times.”

Son’s ‘complete shock’ as parents die within 12 hours of each other