A couple who died in a hot tub in a Spanish resort were “much loved parents” whose sudden passing “has left an immeasurable void in the lives of all who loved them”, their funeral Mass has heard.
Thomasina Tobin (51), originally from Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, and Patrick Tobin (48), from New Zealand, died last month in a rented villa in Cullera, near the city of Valencia.
The London-based couple’s teenage children found their bodies and raised the alarm. Investigators believe their deaths were probablyaccidental.
Their joint funeral Mass took place at Our Lady of Knock Church, Ballintra, on Friday, with a cremation service afterwards.
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Rev Canon Patrick McGinn said the couple’s lives were filled with “love of family and friendship” and there were “so many heartbroken at their tragic deaths”.
“When I heard the news sometime ago on the radio, I didn’t think that we would be celebrating their lives here in Ballintra,” he said.
“We are all so sad for you who are heartbroken today. We really don’t know what to say. All we can do is huddle in grief around the remains of shattered dreams and what might have been. We can just hold you in our hearts today.”
Thomasina Tobin (née McArdle) worked as a quantity surveyor and was a senior executive with a project management consultancy in the construction industry at the time of her death. Patrick Tobin worked in the tech sector.
McGinn said the couple welcomed “everybody into their home” and were “so generous in every way”.
“They were both meticulous in how they approached projects and tasks. Nothing was slapdash in their homes,” he said.
Their children “were the most important part of their lives”, he added.
Thomasina was most like her late mother Nancy, he added, “with grit, determination, a tenacious person and she would stick with things even though they were really hard. And yet it was all completed with huge softness, love and kindness”.
Paddy, he said, was “quick, adventurous and constantly kept everyone on their toes”. He was a lover of sport, trying rugby, hockey, cricket, water polo, football, skiing, snowboarding and surfing.
McGinn concluded his remarks with an excerpt from the Patrick Kavanagh poem In Memory of my Mother.
Thomasina’s brother, John, thanked all those who “have helped us along the way over the past number of weeks”.
He paid special tribute to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, “who helped us navigate this terrible situation with the compassion and the understanding they have of the levels of shock and tragedy when these things happen”.
Offertory gifts included a number of photographs of the couple with family and friends, a sacred New Zealand green stone called the Pounamu, a hard hat and cards.
The couple are survived by their children Rhea and Séamus, parents Tommy McArdle and Clare and Michael Tobin, siblings and wider family.
