Jacqui Boyd, who lost her husband in a drowning accident more than 15 years
An Enniskillen mother-of-three whose husband lost his life in the water as the result of a fishing accident 16 years ago is offering her first-hand experience and support to the family of Kieran McAree.
Jacqui Boyd, from the Brook, lost her husband Trevor in a tragic boat accident along with Jeremy Irvine in 1998 at Lough Conn, just outside Ballina, County Mayo. She understands the pain the McAree family are currently going through as it took seven and half weeks for her husband’s body to be recovered by search teams.
It is this experience and the support received through volunteers at that difficult time which has compelled Jacqui to offer her services to the family in need. From Sunday, December 21 she has been making five pots of soup every day, along with custard, rice pudding and stewed apples to help fuel the search party.
“When we discovered it was a person from Monaghan and people had begun to come up and search I knew that they needed fed and something warm to keep them going, especially with the weather being so wet, cold and horrible so it’s just kind of snowballed from that. There’s just so many people bringing sandwiches and biscuits and so much. People have donated money; hundreds of pounds, people are so, so good.
“Michael and Mary McKenna make two big huge pots of soup every single day. From the family’s point of view it is impossible to thank everyone individually, huge, huge thanks go out to everybody. People are even bringing down fuel for the boats. Special thanks must also go to Stephen Nixon for allowing us the cafe and giving us the keys that we can provide the food and so people can sit in and thaw off. On Sunday, the first day, I was doing it out of the boot of my car.”
Jacqui, was six months pregnant with her third child when her husband Trevor and Jeremy Irvine went fishing in water close to the village of Knockmore. Jeremy’s body was found within four weeks, but Trevor’s remains were not found until seven weeks later.
“He was out fishing and he drowned and there was a whole load of organisations who came to help in the search for my husband and unfortunately we had to wait seven and a half weeks for him. At the end of the day we did get him and that was the most important thing and I knew the effort that everybody put in for me and doing this for the past week it just gives me something to give to the family and to give back, I just know what it was like to be in this situation. I was six months pregnant and I had a five-year-old at home and a one-year-old. My oldest is 22, Nicholas, the next is Jamie-Lee and he’s 18 and Sacha, my daughter is 16. She was born five weeks after I buried my husband.”
Jacqui who is at the Round O every day from 11 until roughly 4.45pm and prepares food in the evenings, speaks to Kieran’s parents Geraldine and Martin every day and told the Herald they are doing well despite their ordeal.
“ The hardest bit for them, which was the same for myself is in the afternoon when it starts to get dark and the boats start to come in off the lake, load up and go away. Your heart just sinks, because you know that’s the search over for another day. You go to bed disappointed. They have an hour’s journey home, they go to bed disappointed and you just wake up the next morning and hope for the best.
“They are just totally overwhelmed. Geraldine and Martin just appreciate every pair of feet, every pair of eyes, every pair of hands that can make sandwiches or whatever, they’re just so overwhelmed and they just cannot believe what is going on.”
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