帶刺玫瑰的家
我的生活
Today, January 13, 2009, it is a funeral day for Doris Page. Although I am not there, somehow, I am deeply touched by her life experience and her strong personality and her attitude towards the life. So I put candle on, silent for three minutes in order to grieve her and say good bye to her.
The following is: my Husband's speech at her funeral.
I’m very glad that I could be at this service to pay last respects to my mother, Doris Lillian Page. In fact, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Thank you all for coming!
What a full and adventurous life my mother lived! A war bride, she followed my father to some pretty remote parts of the world, at least they were remote in those days. And in various parts of Africa and Asia she made a home for my father and for my brother and sisters and I – in nine different countries if my count is correct.
What a strong woman she was. That is because she was born in the Year of the Horse, my wife, Jianying, would say. For much of my childhood, it was my mother who brought up the family; often single-handed and sacrificing a great deal. It was my mother who held the family together. Devoted as she was to my father, it was to her that the practicalities of bringing up four children fell. Not just seeing that we were fed and clothed; but, at times, as schoolteacher, doctor, nurse and disciplinarian. Oh yes, she could be quite tough, my mother!
How well she looked at her 90th birthday party in Portsmouth last year! With the champagne flowing, she was in her element – with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and close friends around her. And on the first anniversary of the death of my son, Tim, last October, she made the trek up to London as she was determined to sit in the same pew at the church where she sat at his memorial service a year earlier. On Christmas Day, over the phone from Canada, we were able to wish each other a happy Christmas. She was weak then and it seemed that the end was not far away.
Before ending these few words, I wanted to pay tribute to my sister, Sarah, without who my mother’s life, and my father’s too, would not have been a happy one in their golden years. Thank you Sarah, what a sacrifice you have made!
It is fitting that we say farewell to my mother in this chapel, where 8 years ago we said goodbye to my father. She wouldn’t have wanted her send-off to be anywhere else.
Goodbye Mum, we shall remember your life with love, with admiration, and with pride.
