Gina Boland was still trying to process the loss of her “golfing buddy” on Wednesday after 72-year-old Mary Byrne died in a car accident the evening before.
“It’s like a nightmare — a bad dream,” she said, after not getting a promised call from her friend Tuesday evening and later hearing the news of Byrne’s death.
Gina and husband Gerry Boland had their friends Mary and Dennis Byrne over for dinner on Sunday, just a few days before an accident near Pinchgut Lake claimed her life and had her husband sent to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s with critical injuries.
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Boland said the couple had planned to head to Corner Brook on Tuesday before dark and stay overnight there before catching a flight in Deer Lake on Wednesday to Florida, where they have been spending the winter for years.
She’s said she’s not sure why they ended up leaving later and being on the highway after dark.
Boland said they certainly enjoyed themselves on Sunday and left that evening to prepare for their trip.
All the Bolands can do now is hope for the best for Dennis, a guy always full of energy and who didn’t mind breaking out the guitar at different events.
Gina said Mary was a beautiful person, who was always smiling and enjoyed things like golfing and curling, although she had not done much curling in recent years due to wintering in Florida.
She and Mary were on the golf course every day the weather would let them from June through August.
Barry Lomond, a good friend of Dennis, said he’s always been a tremendous part of the community.
He said Dennis has done a tremendous amount of work for the Bay St. George Sick Children’s counter drive, putting out collection cans throughout the region.
Lomond said he started up the major fundraising Funspiels at the Caribou Curling Club and the Bay St. George Sick Children’s Foundation, which has raised big money for these organizations throughout the years.
He also enjoys the outdoors, from hunting to fishing, and was even a guide for many years.
He was a competitive curler who played in Legion and Postal national events and had success on a provincial level.
Lomond was saddened to hear of the loss of his wife and is hoping for all the best for him.
