Making History

Diana and Douglas met at a Six Form dance in Cheltenham.
My Father trained as an engineer for the National Coal Board and Diana studied at Bristol University.
After their marriage they moved several times around the North East Coal Fields.
They had three sons and were very proud of them all.
Following the evisceration of the coal industry by the Thatcher Government my Father took early retirement and they moved to Whitebrook in Monmouthshire where they renovated a derelict cottage.
Those were happy days for them both.
One breathtaking August morning as the sun was casting harsh shadows against the pink flecked granite of their cottage and their garden glowed with a golden light, my Mother returned from a morning shopping trip to Monmouth to find Douglas's lifeless body in the living room.
The phone was off the hook and I have always hoped that he had died rushing to answer a call and not trying to call an ambulance.
He was sixty four years old.
My Mother continued to live alone in their cottage for several years.
She was very brave.
Diana kept Douglas's grave beautifully.
As Alzheimer's disease gradually stole her memories she talked about her husband less and less.
Recently she moved to a Nursing Home following a fractured hip.
My wife brought in an album of old family photographs and my Mother asked 'who is this man'
Well, Mum, that was Douglas.
And he loved you very much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q88_lFFoZRE