Thursday, December 11, 2008
Goodbye to Gordon.
The day of a funeral - sad, of course.
Gordon married Bill's cousin Ann 61 years ago. Their long marriage was full of hard work and contentment.
Gordon endeared himself to family and friends alike and a large gathering of them met at the Godstone village church.
It was a cold morning, with a thin covering of snow on the ground.
But there was warmth in the hearts of those within the church to hear tributes and music and poetry to celebrate Gordon's varied life.
You can tell that I had a soft spot for Gordon, though we were not directly related at all.
I hadn't realised how closely our tastes would match.
Bless him - one of the pieces of music rocking through the lovely Victorian church, was a piece that I have had in mind to be played at my own funeral; though hopefully that is far in the future and I might change my mind.
The song is Walk of Life by Dire Straits and the instant the introduction begins I feel I want to dance and a feeling of joy fills my being. I think the theme - of life and the joyfulness would be so good for my family and friends to leave me with as they file out into reality.
I smiled happily as the music played.
Later tears sprung to my eyes. Ann had chosen not to have curtains drawn round the coffin at the crematorium and all those that wanted to walked forward as they left to say a final farewell - so sad for Ann.
And sad to too for Ann's sister, Rosemary, who only 6 months ago had lost her husband. She admitted she had cried more today than she had in May; today the reality of death hit her hard, whilst then she had been in some sort of trance.
And then we gathered at the Horley cricket club. Apparently Gordon had once said that one of his proudest moments had been when he was umpiring a match and his 2 sons opened the batting for Horley.
There was much talking and sharing of memories.
And promises too - to meet up; and from me promises that I would polish up as much of the family history that I have done and pass it on to those interested - and to do some more.
Godstone Church on a snowy December morning.
And 2 pictures of Gordon from 5 years ago, when he still had good health.
Gordon married Bill's cousin Ann 61 years ago. Their long marriage was full of hard work and contentment.
Gordon endeared himself to family and friends alike and a large gathering of them met at the Godstone village church.
It was a cold morning, with a thin covering of snow on the ground.
But there was warmth in the hearts of those within the church to hear tributes and music and poetry to celebrate Gordon's varied life.
You can tell that I had a soft spot for Gordon, though we were not directly related at all.
I hadn't realised how closely our tastes would match.
Bless him - one of the pieces of music rocking through the lovely Victorian church, was a piece that I have had in mind to be played at my own funeral; though hopefully that is far in the future and I might change my mind.
The song is Walk of Life by Dire Straits and the instant the introduction begins I feel I want to dance and a feeling of joy fills my being. I think the theme - of life and the joyfulness would be so good for my family and friends to leave me with as they file out into reality.
I smiled happily as the music played.
Later tears sprung to my eyes. Ann had chosen not to have curtains drawn round the coffin at the crematorium and all those that wanted to walked forward as they left to say a final farewell - so sad for Ann.
And sad to too for Ann's sister, Rosemary, who only 6 months ago had lost her husband. She admitted she had cried more today than she had in May; today the reality of death hit her hard, whilst then she had been in some sort of trance.
And then we gathered at the Horley cricket club. Apparently Gordon had once said that one of his proudest moments had been when he was umpiring a match and his 2 sons opened the batting for Horley.
There was much talking and sharing of memories.
And promises too - to meet up; and from me promises that I would polish up as much of the family history that I have done and pass it on to those interested - and to do some more.
Godstone Church on a snowy December morning.
And 2 pictures of Gordon from 5 years ago, when he still had good health.
Gordon and Ann.
Gordon with great niece Josie. He was always a big hit with children.
He was a regular Father Christmas, well into his 80s, every year for the local garden centre where he had an all year round part time job.
