A very special lady

On Friday I drove down to SW Durham for a service of thanksgiving for the life of a very special person. Having had 2 children, her husband was killed in 1944. It was a lovely idea that her husband was included in the thanksgiving. During the war there was no funeral, no goodbye.

For the first years after the war, she settled down to bring up the children and to run a farm. Later, when she could leave them, she set off for India in a land-rover with goods for starving/sick people. I don't know whether she was the first to do this - but almost certainly the first woman. She continued in this vein, usually taking a young person with her. After the service, I was talking to one of these girls, who said that it was the most amazing experience. There was no room for wimpiness or the like. She hated to sleep in a bed all her life. On these trips, she slept across the front seats. It was up to the young companion to find herself somewhere to kip. This one chose the roof of the land-rover, as being the safest place!


We were not given a diary of her life. Rather comments on different aspects of her character and life. Consequently, I cannot give a list of all the trips she made. I know that later on she went to Eastern Europe, usually with one companion. She spent more of her time on her travels than at home. She was not short of money, but material things meant little to her. As long as she had enough to survive and serve others, she was happy. She was virtually a vegetarian so did not mind the dietary hardships on her travels. She continued to serve the poor and needy in this way long after the normal person would have. She was indomitable. In amongst it all she was bitten by a rabid dog and survived. Much later on she suffered a nasty illness whose name I do not know, which involved complete paralysis. She spent a long time in intensive care in hospital but amazingly she recovered completely.


When, at last, she had to stop her travels and would really have liked to go then. Serving others was the only thing that made her happy. Shortly before she died at the age of 97, she was still knitting gloves and socks for the needy. As I sat in that Church, I couldn't help thinking that there were many similarities between her and Mother Theresa.


She leaves 2 children and spouses, 5 grand children, and at least 6 great grand children. They are all lovely people - not into her sort of life, but all people she was, I'm sure very proud of.