 A war widow after barely five weeks of marriage, Kay Hughes was inconsolable in her loss: "I wept until I could cry no more". Flying Officer Butch ran out of the mess on the day of his master's death, and was never seen again. Following a service at St James', Sutton-on-Hull, on 13 September 1940, Hughes was buried in the churchyard at Row G, Grave 4. A week later, Kay discovered she was pregnant, but eventually miscarried. She subsequently drove ambulances for the British war effort. News of his son's marriage came as "a complete surprise" to Percy Hughes, who only learned of his daughter-in-law's existence from the Australian Air Board's casualty letter. Having married three more times after Hughes' death, Kay died on 28 June 1983 and, in accordance with her wishes, her ashes were buried with her first husband, whose headstone was amended to read "In loving memory of his wife Kathleen".
