Francis is laid to rest after sudden death in Turkey
Janice pays tribute to late partner Frank
A Hamilton man who died suddenly while on holiday in Turkey has been laid to rest.
Tributes were paid to Francis Mcgovern, of Burnbank, who passed away in his sleep on the first day of his holiday.
And this week his partner, Janice Thomson, of Whitehill, relived the horror of losing someone abroad.
The couple travelled to Marmaris, Turkey, every year and were really looking forward to their two-week holiday but the day they arrived, Frank, a retired lorry driver, wasn’t feeling great at all.
Janice said: “On the first day, Frank said he wasn’t feeling well and was going to go for a sleep.
“I was sitting out on the balcony when I looked in and noticed he was sleeping strange — he was lying on his back with one foot on the floor, so I went inside to see him and I realised something wasn’t right.
“I tried to wake him, but nothing I did seemed to work, so I ran to the reception screaming, the staff phoned an ambulance.”
Their dream holiday turned into a nightmare and the 71-year-old never woke up.
Devastated, Janice said it all became a blur.
She said:“the ambulance arrived and they started to do CPR on him, but it was too late, he was gone.”
This week, Janice was keen to stress to others thinking of going on holiday to make sure they have holiday insurance.
It was only the day before the couple were due to fly out when Janice realised she still had to get insurance for their trip.
She said:“we were sitting watching tv and I turned and said to Frank ‘Oh I need to get insurance for us’ he agreed it was important to do so as the previous year I suffered chest pains while we were on holiday.
“So I went online to Insure & Go and paid £89 for us both.
She added:“i’m so glad we got the insurance because had that not happened, Frank would probably still be in Turkey now.
“The company were great with me. Frank passed away on the Wednesday, September 26 and I was flown home on the Friday. I cannot thank them enough for everything they did for me. Please everyone make sure you are covered.”
Janice described Francis as a “gentleman”.
She added: “Frank would have done anything for anyone. I know we were only together for a short time but we had a great time together without a doubt and every day was a celebration.”