Gay Byrne’s wife, Kathleen Watkins was a guest on Friday’s Late Late Show, and spoke beautifully about the loss of her husband.
The beloved Irish presenter, considered a national treasure, passed away last year at the age of 89.
Speaking with Ryan Tubridy she spoke about how wonderful it was to have him home; “We were taking him from the Mater home and we knew it was his last journey.”
“It was wonderful for us to have him at home for days and there was chat around the bed and we angled the bed towards the lighthouse which he loved.”
“We could plan a beautiful mass and we had all of that planned the children were going to do their readings which they eventually did beautifully.”
Kathleen, a harpist, also spoke about the fantastic care the former Late Late Show host received from the hospice in his final days; “We had these wonderful hospice people who came at night and stayed all night and I couldn’t begin to tell you how wonderful they are.”
Speaking about how she has found the last few months Kathleen shared; “I’m feeling fine I have my moments. I’ve had some moments in the last months but I am doing well only with the help of family and friends they’ve been absolutely wonderful.”
“I count my blessings all the time.”
She spoke about how much harder it is for a family to lose someone now, during the Covid-19 pandemic; “Gay’s passing was very difficult for us but we are aware in our family that there are so many people out there looking in this evening who lost people and they weren’t able to say goodbye.”
“They had no proper funerals and we were able to give Gay that wonderful send-off and we had him at home for so long.”
Ryan asked Kathleen when she misses Gay most and she revealed that it’s in the everyday moments, like him reading in his chair; “I think the times I miss him most really just sitting there in his chair, just that.”
“Just his presence just sitting there reading his books he was always up to his neck in books. But towards the end, it was very difficult his eyes were giving him trouble his fingers were numb so he couldn’t play the piano.”
