Joy Fallon- RIP

  Today I attended the funeral of a very old friend and neighbour, Joy Fallon, who died in her 90th year and lived at home until the last few months  of her life.

It was an extraordinary moving occasion of a remarkable woman who crammed a lot into her life – from a midwife cycling around Stirling to jumping out of aeroplanes while with the RAF in Germany, to running a nursery in Zambia where she lived with her husband, Bill,  an engineer, for seventeen years.
 A born extrovert Joy was a consummate organiser of parties including co-ordinating  pantomimes in Africa. She was an inveterate traveller and adventurer, with a passion for history and friends stretching across generations. 

Until the last year of her life, she still attended the same yoga class as myself.
The minister in his eulogy described her as country girl from Bridge of Allan and she wanted her daughter, Louise, born in Africa to have the same experience of growing up here so they relocated back to the town of her birth.  It was not long before Joy set up a nursery in Bridge of Allan and threw herself with gusto into local life. 

The high regard she was held in was reflected in the number, approaching 100 , who attended her funeral both in the Parish church and crematorium. Joy was a force to be reckoned with.

We all received a packet of seeds, for-get-me-knots, and asked to plant them in memory of Joy Fallon with the words: “Sow with love to grow a living memory of Joy.”
Along with the seeds it contained the following poem:
“The sun will shine, the rain will fall,
But my memory will stay with you all.
Plant these seeds with love and care
Of the memories we will always share.
Soon the flowers will be beautiful and bright
A special reminder of my wonderful life.”