In death as they were in life, William and Madge Finlay from Ardstraw in County Tyrone have been buried side by side after dying from Covid-19 within 24 hours of each other.

Their sad deaths have been felt in North Fermanagh, where the couple were well known.

Gary Wilson from Kesh took to Facebook to pay tribute to the couple, writing: "The dreaded virus strikes close to home claiming this lovely couple within 24 hours of each other."

William was also well-known in Fermanagh for being an active member of the British Legion.

More than 50 years after they made a vow to be together ‘til death do us part’ the Newtownstewart couple who were “inseparable” fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic and took their last breaths at the Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry/Derry.

William, 84, who served in the Ulster Defence Regiment during the Troubles and Madge, 82, who was a carer were buried together without a funeral.

The late William and Madge Finlay.

In Ardstraw on Saturday the shadows of mourners lined the streets, careful to adhere to social distancing guidelines, as two hearses carrying the couple’s bodies drove gently side by side through the rural farming village.

“This silent killer has robbed us of our loved ones,” said Robin Finlay, William and Madge’s nephew. “We don’t know where this Covid-19 came from or how it would end up in a wee place like Ardstraw, but we are shocked that they are gone.”

The couple’s carer, a family friend, has also been hospitalised after testing positive for the disease while Robin’s wife Andrea, who comforted Madge before she died, has had to self-isolate after developing minor symptoms.

“We are going about here in a daze; we don’t know what to do,” he said.

After William took ill last week, Robin phoned for an ambulance and the pensioner, who was steeped in the British Legion, was admitted to hospital.

“Unfortunately, when they got William into the Altnagelvin and he was tested it was Covid-19. Madge wasn’t well on the Friday night, she didn’t want to be left alone, so my wife stayed with her. But her health was going down too; her oxygen levels went down and we couldn’t get them back up.

“We phoned for an ambulance and when she went into hospital she was tested and she came back with Covid-19. Then the carer was tested and now she’s got it too.”

Robin said he takes “some comfort” in the fact the couple died hours apart.

“There was about 20 hours between them and while they went together I still can’t really understand it. It’s hard, it’s hard to work out why or what,” he said.

“One wouldn’t have lived without the other and we said that when Madge died. If William came out of it then it would have taken him too. They were in each other’s pockets.”

Many people lined the streets to pay their respects to William, affectionally known in the village as ‘The Lord Mayor of Ardstraw’, and Madge because “they were very well liked”.

Til death do us part: Two hearses drive side by side in the rural farming village of Ardstraw near Newtownstewart in County Tyrone on Saturday carrying the bodies of William and Madge Finlay who died from Covid-19 just hours apart after more than 50 years of marriage together. Photo by John McVitty and taken with the kind permission of the Finlay family.

A police officer stood with his head bowed while neighbours, some wiping away tears, watched as the hearses stopped outside the home where the couple lived, not far from the River Derg, before heading to Ardstraw Cemetery.

“Standing there for the burial and not being able to move about and shake someone’s hand or give a person a hug was very hard. You couldn’t get the one-to-one,” explained Robin.

“But watching them being buried was much harder; all of a sudden they were under ground, you don’t get much time to mourn their loss,” he said.

Robin admitted it will take him time to get through losing his uncle and aunt in this way.

“There would be a wee bit of anger in there, yeah. I am angry about where it came from and how it got here so quickly.

“You expect people to die of old age; maybe heart attacks, strokes, or something, you never expect a thing like Covid-19 to happen. It’ll take a wee while for us to get through this; it’s going to be hard on wee communities like this; normally we’d be able to support each other but it’s like we’ve been thrown into the middle of it and nobody is there to back you up,” he said.

William didn’t have any children and now is buried not just beside his wife of half a century but his parents and three brothers; Ronnie, Mervyn and Ivan - Robin’s father - who died almost 20 years ago.

“It feels like losing a second father but at least they are now all together. It does help to know that William and Madge are side by side as they were in life,” he said, fighting back tears.

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