Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I found sister’s name etched on wall 26yrs after she died
Comfort for grieving family
THE tedious job of stripping wallpaper has brought healing to a broken-hearted family.
Dad and son Terry and Raymond Ryan were redecorating a bedroom that once rung to the sounds of laughter. The room had been a haven for Terry’s sister Elaine until she was killed in a horrific road accident 26 years ago. So when he found her name written on the wall under layers of ageing wallpaper, he felt he might laugh and cry in equal measure. Terry said: “I just stood and looked at it for a moment and then I slowly turned and called dad over. I wasn’t sure how he’d react. But it was almost like Elaine was in the room with us. It was just one word, her name in capital letters, but it seems to fill the room. “Elaine died in 1991 when she just four days short of her 21st birthday. I was only two at the time but our home has been in grief over her loss since that day. “And even though my memories of Elaine are non-existent, I feel like I’ve known her and missed her all my life because she has always been such a massive part of our family.” Terry, 28, who works in a restaurant in his home city of Derry, said work on the bedroom came to a standstill until he and his dad could decide what do to. He said: “It was very emotional. We just couldn’t paint or paper over it so I suggested to daddy that we keep it as a special memento. “I got a frame and put it up around Elaine’s name and decided to buy some butterfly decorations to place around it. “I bought two bags and when I opened them they contained a total of 21 butterflies. “It just seems so appropriate. There were 20 to mark each year of Elaine’s life and another to mark all our time without her. My mummy Ann died six years ago from a heart attack and after having had 10 people living in our home over the years, there’s just me and daddy, who’s 70, living here now. “I feel like daddy has been healing a bit since we found Elaine’s name on the wall. Elaine died on January 19, 1991, when she was travelling with friends to Letterkenny for a Friday night out. Terry said: “Elaine got off and walked in front of the minibus but was hit by a car.”