Eva Kilfedder murder commemoration: 'There was universal outrage when IRA exploded a bomb outside my granny's window'
There was "universal outrage" right across the community when the IRA exploded a bomb outside the bedroom window of "a granny who wore flowery dresses and clip on earrings", her grand daughter has said.
Catherine Kilfedder was just ten years old when the IRA detonated a cylinder bomb at 1am outside the bedroom window of her granny Eva (Margaret) Kilfedder on 1 June 1975 at Garrison, in Co Fermanagh.
Concrete slabs and rubble fell on top of the 60-year-old grandmother and her husband Samuel as they slept in an isolated bungalow near the border.
He was unable to free his wife and ran for help but to no avail.
Samuel was never the same, and he died only three years later.
The Belfast couple had no links to the security forces and had retired to Fermanagh to "escape the Troubles", their family said.
The IRA, which was on ceasefire at the time - never issued any explanation for the attack.
Troubles reference work Lost Lives suggested they may have been targeted because the bungalow had previously been occupied by a member of the UDR.
However, locals dismiss the suggestion, as the UDR man left several years previously, something they believe the IRA was well aware of.
In the aftermath, The Belfast Telegraph reported that the previous occupant was forced to leave the area - along with other Protestant families - because of the danger of IRA assassination. The IRA murdered forestry worker and UDR man Johnny Fletcher nearby on his farm three years before.
Eva, who was born in Ballyshannon, had five children with Samuel; Gregory, Marjorie (known as Lily), John, Irene (passed away in 2017) and Samuel.
Her family described her as “a very quiet lady who enjoyed travels around Fermanagh and Donegal and socialising with family”.
Her husband Samuel drove a sky-blue Morris Minor and they would often go for drives to the beach with a picnic.
Eva’s children Lily Zolkiewicz and Gregory Kilfedder said their mother was "very easy going... didn’t raise her voice and always put others' needs first".
Their parents taught them "willingness to learn from others and to treat people as we would find them".
Her husband Samuel died just three years later from an enlarged heart.
"They were a single unit, they did everything together and he was just filled with a profound sense of sorrow from the day she was stolen away from him. “We had support from across the community at the point my mother was murdered. People were shocked and there was universal outrage at what had happened."
Eva's granddaughter Catherine Kilfedder was just ten when her granny was killed.
"One thing that sticks out was seeing my father cry as he was going upstairs to shave on the day of her funeral," she said.
"I could never understand why people would deliberately try to kill two older retired people in such a callous way."
Their memories of her granny were that "she wore flowery dresses and clip on earrings and had small feet".
Kenny Donaldson, director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) said: “Eva’s life was no-ones to steal away, her loss was felt acutely by the family and has left an indelible hole that can never, ever be filled.”
A commemoration was organised on Sunday 1 June.