Francis Keane, the doyen in fashion designing in Jamaica, is seriously ill in hospital. Her husband Dudley, who was in a room next to hers at the same hospital, battling his own illness, lost that battle. He died on January 2.

The children of Francis Keane had flown to Jamaica over the Christmas holidays to attend to their ailing parents. Now, they are preparing to bury their father on Saturday while at the same time holding vigil at their mother's bedside, praying that she lives.

Daughter, Fay, told The Gleaner that her mother, whose illness was sudden, had been hospitalised first, then the health of her father, who had been ailing for years, deteriorated and was also hospitalised.

She said neither of her parents knew that the other was admitted in an adjoining room at the same hospital, and her father died less than a day after being taken there.

Francis Keane, famous mostly for her exquisite cutwork embroidery and wedding dresses, clothe many first ladies, dignitaries, the rich, the famous and not so famous, locally and internationally.

She provided the wardrobe for many Miss Jamaica World beauty queens on their way to the Miss World competition including Lisa Hanna, Opposition spokesperson on information, who was crowned Miss World in 1993.