Thirteen years after slipping into a coma following the Enniskillen bomb, Ronnie Hill was laid to rest on a cold afternoon in Kilkeel, Co Down.
Mourners lined the streets last Saturday as his coffin was carried through the town for a service at Mourne Presbyterian Church where he had married his wife, Noreen.
Mr Hill (69), the principal of Enniskillen High School, fell into a coma two days after the Provisional IRA's Remembrance Day bombing in which 11 people died.
After her husband had been in the Erne Hospital for four years, Mrs Hill set up her own residential nursing home in Holywood, Co Down, to take care of Ronnie and others. She was holding his hand when he died on Thursday.
Their children, Siobhan, Averill, Marilyn and Keith, were among the mourners. Also present was the South Belfast Ulster Unionist MP, the Rev Martin Smyth.
The service was conducted by the former Presbyterian moderator, Dr David McCaughey. The current Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Trevor Morrow, and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher, the Rev Brian Hannon, also took part.
Dr Hannon, a former rector in Enniskillen, recalled that on the day of the bomb Mr Hill, a Presbyterian elder, had been taking a Bible class for teenagers. "As usual on that Sunday, the class got out early and Ronnie joined them at the war memorial. The bomb went off and Ronnie was among those rescued from the rubble still with a chance of life." However, Dr Hannon said, his condition deteriorated.
He paid tribute to all who had cared for Mr Hill. "It is to these wonderful people's credit that in the 13 years of Ronnie's trauma he never once suffered from a bedsore. That to me is quite astonishing."
Dr Hannon said Mr Hill had "loved life and had an extraordinary will to live". He praised Mrs Hill's response to the bomb. "Noreen was convinced that at times Ronnie was aware of what was going on around him and over the years she sat with him for countless hours, talked to him, read the Bible and prayed with him.
"I found no evidence of bitterness but rather of prayer for the perpetrators and of the good that comes out of evil."
He recalled Mr Hill's response when a pupil asked what three things he would take if marooned on an island. He had replied: "I would take the Bible because it contains all the knowledge that you need to know; the book Robinson Crusoe because he has been there before and my wife because I couldn't live without her."
Dr McCaughey said the Hills must remain strong and the church had also to be courageous in condemning evil.
Mr Hill was buried in the cemetery adjoining the church.