The local community has been left in shock following the death of Eamonn Dolan (81), who died suddenly just a week after the passing of his beloved wife Patricia (80).

Patricia (Pat) passed away peacefully on January 23, 2021 at her home on Drumclay Road, Enniskillen following a long battle with cancer. Just over a week after his wife’s passing, Eamonn died suddenly on February 1, while out walking their dog on Topped Mountain.

Through life, the couple were inseparable.

“One was never seen without the other. They were always together,” said their daughter Karen, their eldest child. Noting how her family and the local community are still in shock following her father’s untimely passing so quickly after her mother’s death, Karen said she is taking some comfort in knowing that her parents are now together again.

“We’d spent so long minding mum, and dad had spent so long looking after her too, we’d have liked to have had him a bit longer, to mind him for a while, but I’d say he’s happier now with her because they were always together and he loved her.”

Although they lived only five miles apart when growing up with Eamonn from Tattymacall near Lisbellaw and Pat from Maguiresbridge, they didn’t know each other.

It was in 1963, while they were both training in Belfast, Eamonn as a teacher, Pat as a nurse, that they first met, at a dance. Eamonn moved back to Enniskillen to teach in St. Joseph’s College in 1964 and he and Pat married two years later in Lisnaskea. They were together ever since.

“They would have been married 54 years this year,” said Karen, noting that her parents shared many interests over the years including playing bridge and travelling, particularly enjoying family caravanning holidays to Sligo, Mayo, Wexford and even as far as the outskirts of Paris.

Eamonn and Pat had four children, Karen, Myles, Matthew and Edward whom they loved dearly.

When their children arrived, Pat worked part time as a staff nurse in the Erne Hospital and later in the Coolaness Nursing Home. She also worked with the Marie Curie team.

“We were very proud of her being a nurse and she was proud of having been one,” said Karen.

While working as a teacher, Eamonn embarked on an open university degree and became the first person in Fermanagh to gain a third level qualification in teaching computing. He would later transfer to Dungannon Technical College before embarking on a long and happy career in Fermanagh College.

In his spare time, he was actively involved in the charity Concern Worldwide. “Dad did a lot of work for Concern. He would’ve went on sponsored walks and did collecting for them. Anything that Concern was organising, dad would’ve always been there,” said Karen.

Concern Worldwide

Paying tribute to Eamonn, Northern Ireland Director of Concern Worldwide, Peter Anderson, said: “Eamonn’s passing is a huge loss to his family, friends and the local community. It is also a great loss to the people who Eamonn worked so tirelessly to help in the world’s poorest places – and who are thriving today because of his commitment to fundraise for Concern.

“Eamonn was a familiar and comforting presence at Christmas in the Diamond collecting money for Concern. For decades, he played a major role in Concern’s support group in Enniskillen, volunteering his time and energy to raise funds to support people living in extreme poverty around the world.”

Sharing a fond family memory, Karen explained that her mum was born on a leap year.

“She had her 80th birthday just before lockdown last year,” said Karen, explaining that technically it was her mother’s 20th birthday party as she only had a birthday every four years.

Looking back, the family are glad that they had a party on Pat’s actual birthday, February 29, as if they’d waited any later, they wouldn’t have been able to celebrate together due to the pandemic.

“We all went to Lusty Beg for a weekend with the family,” said Karen, adding: “That was just before she got sick. She got sick as soon as lockdown happened and it was really hard with her having cancer through Covid.”

“We managed to keep her at home and dad doted over her that whole time. Dad looked after her so much,” she said.

The family are very grateful for all the care that Pat received from the various health professionals who tended to her throughout her illness.

Talking about losing her father in the midst of mourning her mother, and the impact that that has had on her family, Karen shared: “My wee boy said to me, ‘mummy you said the hole in my heart was gonna get smaller but it’s getting bigger because granny and granda are both gone now’. He loved both of them.”

Talking about her father’s tragic death, Karen shared: “We don’t know what happened to him when he went out to Topped Mountain.

“He was with his dog walking so she’s the only one that really knows what happened to him. Did he die of a broken heart? Did he fall over? Nobody knows,” said Karen, who finds peace in the fact that her father passed away in a place that was special to him and his beloved wife.

“They loved going walking there, the whole family loved walking there,” she added.

Much loved mother and father of Karen (Garth), Myles (Helder), Mathew (Lucia), and Edward (Anna) and devoted granny and granda to their seven grandchildren Summer, Luke, Lucy, Hannah, Ellen, Peadar and Laoise, Patricia and Eamonn are greatly missed by their entire family circle and the local community.

“Mum and dad had the ability to cheer people up. They radiated happiness, they really did,” Karen told this newspaper.

The funeral arrangements were carried out by Enda Love & Sons.