An Ayrshire couple of 44 years have been laid to rest together after they tragically died just nine days apart.
Grandparents Sarah (Sadie), 78, and Maxwell (Maxie) Stobbs, 75, from the village of Drongan both died last month, leaving their family having to plan a double funeral in the midst of the Covid pandemic.
The pair, who met in 1972, were both shielding together at home when Sadie, a former meat factory worker at Nimmo’s, became unwell on Monday, January 18.
She was rushed to Ayr Hospital where medics discovered she had suffered a bleed on her brain which caused a heart attack. She died on Friday, January 22.
Devastated daughter Helen Stobbs, 43, had begun to put together funeral arrangements with a service planned for Monday, February 8 but just days later her father fell ill due to a ruptured aneurysm on Friday, January 29.
Tragically, Maxie – a former bakery worker at Mother's Pride factory in Heathfield, Ayr – died on Sunday, January 31 in the same hospital as his beloved wife.
The shock news of her second parent dying left Helen having to quickly rearrange the funeral so the much-loved grandparents could be laid to rest together.
The mum-of-two has thanked Barry Whalen Funeral Directors of Ayr for their help after she received the heartbreaking news.
Helen told the Ayrshire Post: “To have my mum and dad pass with just nine days between them was a big shock, it felt like a nightmare.
“I had the funeral already booked for my mum, but then my dad died and it had to be a double funeral.
“It was all really sudden with my mum, she took a turn for the worst.
“It was the same with my dad. He had an aneurysm in his stomach for years and he had cancer in his lung. I was with them when they both died, I can’t thank the staff at Ayr Hospital enough.
“I decided to lay them both to rest together. In some ways it has been comforting as it would have more heartbreak having one funeral and then another.
“We were able to get them a larger coffin, so they were cuddled up together, they were always with each other in life and they are together again.”
The funeral took place on Monday, February 8 at Drongan cemetery.
Villagers lined the streets to pay tribute to the couple who had spent their life there.
Helen has paid tribute to her mum and dad who were everything to her and her children, Jayden, 9 and Riley, 7.
She said: “They were really well known in the community, it was a good turnout for them, so many people lined the drive through the village from their home and followed the hearse to the graveyard.
“I can’t thank Barry Whalen enough, especially John for all they have done for us.
“They met in 1972 at my aunt and uncle’s house.
“They worked all their life, my mum worked in a chippy, at Nimmo's, and my dad worked at the factory that makes Mother's Pride.
“My mum loved to go to the bingo in Ayr and my dad always enjoyed going to the pubs in Ayr for a pint.
“They absolutely adored their grandchildren, they were their world, they were everything to me.
“We just loved them, we miss them dearly and we wish they were still here.”
