WOMAN WHO WAS FRIEND TO ALL DIED WITH COLLEAGUES
Woman who was 'friend to all' died with colleagues
A WOMAN who was a friend to all died in the company of two colleagues after they were evacuated from the place of work she loved so much - straight into the centre of Saturday's blast.
Mrs. Ann McCombe, who was 49 and lived at Summerhill Park, Omagh, was loved by all, her husband, Stanley, said.
Ann worked in Watterson's drapers at High Street for about 12 years. She was part-time assistant in the fashion department, working Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday, and extra hours at sales time and providing holiday cover. She also worked part-time at McClean's foodstore, on the Hospital Road.
At the weekend, with her husband and their elder son, Clive (22), away at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, she went in to work on Saturday.
Recalled her husband: "She loved working in Watterson's. They were a big happy family. They were all for each other and the Watterson's are brilliant people.
"'Tom Watterson thinks the world of his staff and they think the world of him, too.
"Tom always told the staff they were Watterson's", he added.
Mr. McCombe has not really been able to piece together what happened to his wife.
He knows that she left the store with Veda Short, Doreen Preston, Geraldine Breslin and a customer, Olive Hawkes.
Of the group, only Mrs. Preston was to survive. She is in Altnagelvin Hospital with serious injuries.
Said Mr. McCombe: "They went down there, smiling, to their deaths."
Meanwhile, in Scotland, the news got through to Mr. McCombe that there was a bomb in Omagh, and that there had been fatalities.
He said the initial reports were that the bomb was at the courthouse, and he was confident that Ann would have been evacuated safely.
Later, word came through that the bomb had been at Nicholl and Shiels's and - erroneously - that a traffic warden had been killed. Mr. McCombe's sister, Mrs. Rosemary Ingram, is a traffic warden, and she was on duty and was seriously injured.
Thoughts
"My thoughts then were about Rosemary. I knew she would have been in the centre of things directing traffic. Later, I got word that someone had been talking to Rosemary in the Erne Hospital and that she was injured, but was in no immediate danger," he said.
Then, shortly after 8pm, Mr. McCombe's brother, David, got in touch via the coach driver's mobile telephone.
"I asked 'what about Rosemary' and he said she was in hospital and was OK. Then I asked him about Colan, my youngest son and Ann, and he said 'Colan is all right, but I have bad news for you, Ann has been missing since the bomb went off and we cannot locate her. We have been searching hospitals and phoning hospitals'
"That was at 8.30, and I knew in my heart that Ann had been severely injured or was dead.
"She would never be late home, and if she was going to be late she would let someone know, especially if Colan, who is 18, was at home on his own," he said.
Staff at the hotel in Scotland were great, Mr. McCombe went on. He was allowed to use the phone in the office as much as he needed to.
"Bits of news kept drifting through about other people injured, but I was really concerned about Ann. Something inside me told me I was going to get bad news.
"Then, after 10pm, David phoned and said Rev. Ian Mairs had found Ann in the morgue at Lisanelly Camp and had identified her.
"Ann was not killed, Ann was brutally murdered," he added.
Mr. McCombe said thousands of people had called at his home since the news of Ann's death became known.
"I knew Ann was a popular girl, but the number of people who have called in unbelievable. I challenge anyone to find my anyone who had anything bad to say about Ann. She was a friend to everyone," he said.
Her chief interests were singing in the church choir, and walking in the country, and in her family.
The McCombe's celebrated 25 years of marriage in June with a quiet holiday in Dublin, but they had known each other for five years before that.
Mrs. McCombe, a native of Ballindrait, Co. Donegal, is also survived by her sisters, Mrs. Eleanor Campbell,and Mrs. Rosaleen Thomson.
A WOMAN who was a friend to all died in the company of two colleagues after they were evacuated from the place of work she loved so much - straight into the centre of Saturday's blast.
Mrs. Ann McCombe, who was 49 and lived at Summerhill Park, Omagh, was loved by all, her husband, Stanley, said.
Ann worked in Watterson's drapers at High Street for about 12 years. She was part-time assistant in the fashion department, working Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday, and extra hours at sales time and providing holiday cover. She also worked part-time at McClean's foodstore, on the Hospital Road.
At the weekend, with her husband and their elder son, Clive (22), away at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, she went in to work on Saturday.
Recalled her husband: "She loved working in Watterson's. They were a big happy family. They were all for each other and the Watterson's are brilliant people.
"'Tom Watterson thinks the world of his staff and they think the world of him, too.
"Tom always told the staff they were Watterson's", he added.
Mr. McCombe has not really been able to piece together what happened to his wife.
He knows that she left the store with Veda Short, Doreen Preston, Geraldine Breslin and a customer, Olive Hawkes.
Of the group, only Mrs. Preston was to survive. She is in Altnagelvin Hospital with serious injuries.
Said Mr. McCombe: "They went down there, smiling, to their deaths."
Meanwhile, in Scotland, the news got through to Mr. McCombe that there was a bomb in Omagh, and that there had been fatalities.
He said the initial reports were that the bomb was at the courthouse, and he was confident that Ann would have been evacuated safely.
Later, word came through that the bomb had been at Nicholl and Shiels's and - erroneously - that a traffic warden had been killed. Mr. McCombe's sister, Mrs. Rosemary Ingram, is a traffic warden, and she was on duty and was seriously injured.
Thoughts
"My thoughts then were about Rosemary. I knew she would have been in the centre of things directing traffic. Later, I got word that someone had been talking to Rosemary in the Erne Hospital and that she was injured, but was in no immediate danger," he said.
Then, shortly after 8pm, Mr. McCombe's brother, David, got in touch via the coach driver's mobile telephone.
"I asked 'what about Rosemary' and he said she was in hospital and was OK. Then I asked him about Colan, my youngest son and Ann, and he said 'Colan is all right, but I have bad news for you, Ann has been missing since the bomb went off and we cannot locate her. We have been searching hospitals and phoning hospitals'
"That was at 8.30, and I knew in my heart that Ann had been severely injured or was dead.
"She would never be late home, and if she was going to be late she would let someone know, especially if Colan, who is 18, was at home on his own," he said.
Staff at the hotel in Scotland were great, Mr. McCombe went on. He was allowed to use the phone in the office as much as he needed to.
"Bits of news kept drifting through about other people injured, but I was really concerned about Ann. Something inside me told me I was going to get bad news.
"Then, after 10pm, David phoned and said Rev. Ian Mairs had found Ann in the morgue at Lisanelly Camp and had identified her.
"Ann was not killed, Ann was brutally murdered," he added.
Mr. McCombe said thousands of people had called at his home since the news of Ann's death became known.
"I knew Ann was a popular girl, but the number of people who have called in unbelievable. I challenge anyone to find my anyone who had anything bad to say about Ann. She was a friend to everyone," he said.
Her chief interests were singing in the church choir, and walking in the country, and in her family.
The McCombe's celebrated 25 years of marriage in June with a quiet holiday in Dublin, but they had known each other for five years before that.
Mrs. McCombe, a native of Ballindrait, Co. Donegal, is also survived by her sisters, Mrs. Eleanor Campbell,and Mrs. Rosaleen Thomson.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0065
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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