Saying Goodbye

Today we celebrated the life of my dear friend Queenie who passed away last month. I’ve done several blips of Queenie in the last few years. (My favourite here). She was a good friend of my mother’s, but not just her friend, mine too! After my mum passed away in 2004, I stayed quite close to Queenie which was a real blessing to me.

Queenie was widowed way too young and had not had children, so she eventually moved from London to Reading so that she could live near her sister who had also been widowed. There were lots of nephews and nieces, so there was plenty of family around who loved and included her.

About 15 years ago Queenie and her sister moved near to Bath so that they could be near her sister’s son. They each bought their own little bungalow within of few metres of each other. I tried to visit a few times a year and even spent part of Christmas with Queenie two years in a row, (here and here), after her sister had to move into a care home. When Dolly was still alive, Queenie made sure (demanded?) that I brought her with me and there was always a happy reunion between the two of them!

Eventually Queenie also had to move into a care home, and I visited there too, seeing her a few months before the pandemic hit, just after her 90th birthday. Sadly that was the last time I saw her, and I missed her a great deal during the pandemic, but knew she was being well looked after there.

The service today was a beautiful celebration of her life, and was held in this little Baptist church where Queenie and her sister were actively involved for many years. I was asked to do one of the readings. It was good to spend time with some of her friends and most of her extended family. The beautiful flowers were from the venue where we had the reception/wake afterwards.