To Maureen...

... my school friend who died so suddenly from a pulmonary embolism on 5th August.

It was her funeral service today and we were privileged to be asked by her family to join them in saying goodbye to her. There were just ten of us in the small chapel at the Cambridge Crematorium.

We met at secondary school, Honor Oak Girls’ Grammar School in 1964 and went through the next seven years together as a group of five friends, quieter than some in the class and there were days when we admired the boldness of those others! In fact, she was even quieter than I was ...in those days!

Maureen and I excelled together one year in the school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, dressed in beautiful gowns we’d customised ourselves, we walked across the stage holding a pretend conversation and conquering our nerves. Each of the seven nights was the same.

Maureen was an excellent student especially in English, French and Latin and was offered a Summer School scholarship in Greek. I so admired her skills of translation. She could have done Classics at university but other influences at home meant she didn’t follow an academic career. She went on to clerical work in the local law courts, then onto management in retail before finding her real niche as a classroom assistant supporting children who found learning hard. No wonder we were friends. Our hearts sang the same song.

We were at her wedding to Chris and they came to ours earlier in the same year. I remember she was so nervous they were almost not legally married as she could hardly get the words out.

A daughter and son were born in the same years as our sons. The family moved to live in Lincoln then Huntingdon and as our lives became full with other good things we began to be in touch less and of late only at Christmas. But the bond remained and we really were thrilled to be invited to today’s service.

Four years ago Maureen leant she had Parkinson’s disease and recently her mobility had deteriorated. But it was a very sudden pulmonary embolism that took her from her family and it will be some time before Chris can believe she is no longer with him.

Today was a Humanist ceremony and not one I am used to. It was a wonderful tribute to Maureen. The family said Maureen would have hated the attention and words but they would like to believe she was looking down on us all.
I pray and believe God will hold the family in his arms in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Things about Maureen I learnt today:
She was a huge technophobe
She kept handwritten notes of quotes from all the films she’d watched
She knew the names of all phobias
She decided years ago she wasn’t going to drive anymore.
She was a huge Scrabble fan and didn’t always take well to losing
She did every crossword she could find
Each month on the calendar had reminders of two months ahead.