Farewell to a Great Lady!

We are just back from our weekend in New Waltham. On Friday, we attended a requiem mass for David's mother. The sevice was just as she would have wished it – formal and traditional. All her children had visited her just before she died, but all the generations were represented at the funeral. There were two of her children, Margaret and David, with their respective spouses (Bernard and me); her niece, Marilyn, with her husband, Dick; six grandchildren, Kevin, Clare, Sarah, Catherine, Patricia and John (plus Shayna, Kevin's wife) and two great grandchildren, Jessica and Kyron. The readings for the mass were read by the grandchildren and Margaret and David spoke about their mother at the end of the service. The church was filled with all the friends she had made since arriving in England three years ago. She was obviously a very popular lady! After the service, we went on to the crematorium to say our final goodbyes while Faure's Requiem played in the background. Later, we all enjoyed a splendid coming together of friends and family to celebrate the life of this wonderful woman. All in all it was a very memorable day!

On Saturday, we all went to Sarah's engagement party. Sarah has become engaged to Zane, who teaches at the same school as she does. It was good to be able to celebrate this happy occasion – although the music was too loud for us oldies – my ears were still ringing the next day! And so on to Sunday ... this was Margaret's birthday, so the remaining members of the family went to a splendid lunch in a nearby pub (see photo). So, as someone pointed out, we are now the older generation – hmm, I'm not sure what I think about that!