LONDON (Reuters) – The daughter of Captain Tom Moore, who died last week aged 100 after contracting COVID-19, paid tribute to her father on Wednesday, casting him as a vibrant mentor who spread hope and joy with his mischievous charm.
Moore struck a chord with locked-down Britain and people around the world by walking around his garden with the help of a frame to raise tens of millions of pounds for the National Health Service workers.
“He was an amazing man with the biggest heart,” said his daughter Hannah in a statement. “We hope that the world will continue to spread the hope joy and love that my father felt, and that we can make tomorrow, a good day for each other.”
The family, she said, missed his humour and his chuckle.
“He was our world. Not hearing his chuckle in the house, catching the mischievous twinkle in his eye, hearing the shuffle in the corridor of his now famous walking frame,” she said.
“We are already missing his routines, like surreptitiously feeding the dogs porridge out of his bowl or sitting in the kitchen every day to have lunch and asking us how our day is going.”
His endeavour and wit spread joy amid the grim news of the coronavirus outbreak: Moore’s message to the world was that the sun would shine again and that the clouds would clear.
Moore died on Feb. 2 at Bedford Hospital in central England. He had tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 22 and was fighting pneumonia.
“He inspired hope in so many and captured the heart of the nation, and the world, during its time of need. He held a place in so many people’s hearts and because of that we understand that we aren’t grieving alone,” his daughter said.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Michael Holden)
