TRIBUTE FROM FUNERAL SERVICE

Hello
It is almost exactly four years since we gathered to celebrate Mom’s life. That was in the much happier circumstances of her ninetieth birthday. Today we are together again to give thanks for her long life.
Mom was a strong, independent woman, with a great sense of humour. Her life revolved around her family and home. 
She married John in 1951. After his sudden death in 1968, she brought up us five children in very difficult circumstances.  She had two jobs to make ends meet, and took on the mortgage of the house at a time when it was very unusual for a woman to have a mortgage. 
Mom gave us a lot of her love, and some of her strength and independence, for which we are all very grateful.

Mom was determined to keep and to stay in her home for as long as she could. She lived there for seventy years from the time that she married John until this summer, when sadly she had to leave for the hospital and then the care home. 
She never wanted to live anywhere else. 
The longest time she spent away, and possibly her greatest adventure, was when, at the age of eighty-two, she boarded an airplane for the very first time for the long flight to Australia.  It was typical of her that she took the journey in her stride. Liz’s worries about how Mom would react to the long flight were unfounded, and it was Mom who ended up looking after Liz, the seasoned traveller.
Her visit to Australia, spending time there with her family, brought her great happiness.

Mom’s strength and determination remained throughout her life. 
She cared for Glyn into her late eighties as his blindness and dementia worsened. It was only during the last few weeks of his life that, with a heavy heart, she had to let him move into a care home.
She managed her own affairs right up to the time when she went into hospital in August.  Even in the last few weeks and days of her life she kept her sense of humour, laughing happily when she found something amusing.

Mom made many lovely memories for all of us, and I would like to share a few of mine with you:

I remember Mom playing her favourite songs on the accordion, a legacy from the years just after the war when she performed at working men’s clubs and functions, with her sisters, in an all-girl band called ‘The Robertas’.

I remember walking alongside a pram carrying three children in the park; and trips to Coleshill, when we went to the stream by the church where we would fish and paddle.

I remember day trips on the double decker bus to Stratford, when we would all try to crowd onto the front seats of the top deck, while Mom and Dad followed with bags loaded with sandwiches and flasks of hot drinks.

I remember her love of cream cakes, something she could always manage to eat.

In her later years I remember sitting with her and watching the afternoon quiz shows, drinking tea, and of course, eating biscuits, until a gentle snore told me that she had dropped off to sleep, again.  Her fondness for biscuits did not go unnoticed - to Aria, her great-grand daughter, she was ‘nanny biscuit’.


I would like to share from some of the family’s online tributes to Mom:
Gordon:   You were the centre of our family for nigh on seventy years and leave a huge hole in our hearts.  We’ll also miss your sense of humour and silly jokes, even though you struggled to deliver the punchline through your own laughter. 

Diane:  I have been part of Ian’s family for 49 years, and loved his Mom as much as my own, we never had cross words and I was treated like a daughter. Thank you for bringing up Ian to be a beautiful, caring husband and son.

Claire:  I always said that if I turned out to be half the woman my Nan is then I will be just fine.  Strong, carefree, witty and loved beyond measure.

Alison:  An amazing mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  All my life you’ve been a constant, always ready with a hug, a joke, or a laugh, telling me I was definitely your granddaughter because I got lost easily and was constantly falling over. 

Kirsty:   I will miss your laugh and our chats, reading the newspaper and laughing at the funny stories.  Aria and Isaac will miss eating all your biscuits and singing with you.


Mom was a special person, and we are all thankful for the time that we had with her.

We will always love her.

And we will always miss her.

Keith

October 2021