My Aunt Edna died a few months ago. She was married to Uncle George, my mother's brother. Cousin Georgina gave me permission to post the wonderful tribute she wrote that appeared on the website of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charity Aunt Edna supported.
Edna May Langdale
Enda May Langdale nee Bourne died
on 11th April 2011.
Mum was born and brought up in
North West London and lived in Cainfield Avenue her whole life. As a girl she attended Wykeham
School where she was a bright and exemplary pupil and a Prefect. Mum made long
term friends, some still to this day.
During the war Mum was an evacuee
and sent to the south coast to a nunnery arranged by Aunt Alice. When it became
too dangerous she was sent to Western super mere [Weston-super-Mare in Somerset] , but was found starving with a
jam sandwich, living in a coal hole and was promptly bought back to London,
where she did experience the bombing.
Mum eventually met Dad - George.
They married and together brought us up their two children Dale and Georgina.
Among their many happy childhood memories are the big family Christmases that
were celebrated at Aunt Peg’s or at home. The only thing we didn’t like was
having to wait until the evening to open our presents.
After school Mum became a
hairdresser. She worked for a number of years at Barry’s in Neasden employing
all the techniques of the day such as tonging. When we came along she stayed at
home to look after us, but continued to work from home cutting neighbour’s and
friend’s hair. Mum was lucky to learn the style of cutting from Vidal Sassoon
for Aunt Peggy. We will always remember the smell in the house on Thursday
which was always perm day.
In the early 1970s Mum joined BT.
She was involved in clerical work and rose to become a Higher Executive
Officer. She was once invited to become part of the computer team due to her
knowledge of Binary Code. Mum worked at BT until her retirement at sixty.
It was a proud day when Georgina
married David in 1978. The family has now expanded to include grandchildren
Mark and Alex.
There have been a number of things
Mum has enjoyed over the years. She was a talented portrait painter and
produced work that anyone would be proud to hang on the wall, Dad and ourselves
were her models. She always loved music of all kinds and from all eras and she
loved to dance. She continued to paint and dance into her latter years and she
also took up knitting.
Another of Mum’s loves was
shooting. She represented her club in Kiel in Germany and Fuengirola in Spain,
where she came second in the ladies competition. In later years Mum’s arthritis
prevented her from competing, but she still enjoyed watching Dale shoot and
especially looked forward to trips to Bisley. At one time the family owned a
caravan at Bisley which was painted in Mum’s colour choice – vivid blue. She
enjoyed gardening, flower arranging and Bowls down at Roundwood Park playing in
competitions.
There always have been dogs in the
family. The last three were Skipper, a Black Labrador, Milly, the mad
Patterdale terrier, and Benjamin, a Miniature Dachshund who was always at Mum’s
side, following her everywhere.
Mum was a proud grandmother and
she always took great pleasure from her trips to visit Mark and Alex. Mum loved
her visits to Bedfordshire. The boy’s memories are of her coming to pick them up
from school and their visits to London for lavish meals and play with her dogs.
There are two events in Mum’s life
which both involve flying and were highlights for her. On her sixtieth birthday
Dale arranged for her to go up in a hot air balloon helping her fulfil a
lifelong ambition. The other flying experience took place in Canada where her
nephew took her up in a plane allowing her to take the controls and once even
wing tipping around the CN Tower.
Unfortunately Dementia started in
her late 60s, but she was still able to enjoy holidays at the caravan, at
Shirley’s in Southsea and Havant and with Gina and David and boys in
Bedfordshire and Devon. In her final years she loved to sing and dance, and
listened to 50’s to 70’s music till the end.
We would like to thank all for their
kind words and hope that you will remember Mum in your own way.
Dale and Georgina
When I come to the end of the road
When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me,
I want no rites in a gloom-filled
room.
Why cry for a soul set free?
Miss me a little ~ but not too
long
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once
shared.
Miss me ~ but let me go.
For this is a journey that we all
must take
And each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the Master
plan,
A step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick of
heart,
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing
good deeds.
Miss me ~ but let me go.
Author Unknown
After Glow
I’d like the memory of me
to be a happy one.
I’d like to leave an after glow
of smiles when life is done.
I’d like to leave an echo
whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times
and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who
grieve,
to dry before the sun
of happy memories
that I leave when life is done.
Added by: Georgina
Faithful on 15 May 2011.
This tribute can be
found online at the RNLI website.
http://www.friendsandrelations.com/partners/rnli/html/detail.php?id=8906
