Farewell Heber

This morning malcornorton collected me and we drove up the Stiperstones to Heber's funeral who died aged 97. I've never known anyone else called Heber, apparently there are four in the Bible which is appropriate for a life-long chapel attender.

He was married to a cousin and best friend of our late mum. When Mum left the village to live near me I used to regularly take her back to visit them and we always had a lovely meal and were entertained by Heber's stories of the old days.

He was a lovely man, a gentleman and a real character, the like of which we don't get any more.  He was a true countryman and spoke with a very broad Stiperstones/ South Shropshire accent - his greeting to everyone was " 'Ow Bist?"  meaning "How are you?" 

He wore his cap all the time, often in the house too and at the burial his cap and stick were dropped onto the coffin - such a lovely touch.

The chapel was packed which showed how much he was loved and the service was perfect for him.

At the "do" in the village hall afterwards it was lovely to see so many people from my childhood and young years - some of which I hadn't seen since those times.  If one can say that a funeral was lovely, this certainly was.