Couple and baby killed in crash ‘filled with dreams and hopes’, mourners told
By Claudia Savage, Press Association
A couple killed in a road collision alongside their unborn daughter were filled with “overwhelming joy” at the prospect of having their first child, their funeral has heard.
Ralph Anthony Singco, Cathrene Kith Quinones Singco, and their unborn daughter – whose name has been confirmed as Kate Singco – died from their injuries following a two-car collision near Nutts Corner.
It is understood the health service workers from the Philippines had been living in the north Belfast community for the last four or five years, but Mr Singco’s family had been settled in the area for 20 years.
The couple’s funeral was held at St Vincent de Paul in Ligoniel, where a small white coffin for Kate was situated between her parents at the altar.
There were emotional scenes as medical workers formed a guard of honour in their uniforms while the coffins were brought from the chapel.
Police had closed the road to facilitate the hundreds of people in attendance to pay their respects to the family.
Father Vincent Cushnahan addressed the first part of his homily directly to Mr and Mrs Singco.
He said: “You wanted a bright, prosperous, healthy future for yourselves and your family, you made the big and bold step of coming here to our city of Belfast.
“You made it your new home, and over those 20 years, you put down real deep roots. You made our city your city.”
He described the couple as filled with “laughter and joy”.
He added: “They were filled, too, with love for each other.
“They radiated love, not just for each other, but for those who were around them.
“A young couple, a couple in love, a couple filled with dreams and hopes, a couple making future plans as any couple anywhere in the world would.
“They were a normal couple and yet extraordinary in their love for each other.
“During their time together, they tried, of course, to have a little baby. They wanted to pour out that love that they had for each other into new life.
“Over the years, they struggled to have a baby, and only seven months ago Kith discovered she was expecting.
“Can you imagine her expression, her overwhelming joy with Ralph that finally, finally, they had their little baby.
“Seven months old, here with us in the church. So sadly taken from us.”
Father Cushnahan offered his condolences to Ms Singco’s family in the Philippines, with her parents and siblings not able to be present.
He said: “We are heartbroken and devastated, but the Quinones and Singco family will leave today, they will be left bereft with memories, with stories with tears and laughs, with jokes and crying, to continue your lives without Ralph and Kith.
“To me that is an unimaginable prospect but one which I know you can accomplish.”
The priest called for the legacy of the Singco family to “be one of our generosity”.
He said: “Sometimes in life, it’s hard because we are so busy, we can be filled with petty resentments, we can be difficult at times, but let the story of Ralph, Kith and baby Kate fill us with a new sense of generosity, a new sense of kindness, love and respect for each other.
“Let us not lock ourselves away forever in sadness and sorrow, but let us remember them by how we go forward, by how we live together with new and renewed sense of purpose.”
A GoFundMe page was set up to pay for the family’s repatriation to their home country of the Philippines and has raised enough to do so.
Father Cushnahan said the community had “shown the world the best of us”.
He added: “I’m very proud of you all, very proud of the respect and condolences you have shown, the prayers that you have offered, the solidarity that you have presented, the financial contributions you have made to the Singco family to repatriate them.”
Mr Singco’s brother Antonio did a reading and when invited to give the sign of peace, many of the mourners hugged in the chapel.
