On behalf of extended family and friends – by Carol

The tapestry of our lives is just like this blanket, a precious and treasured hand-woven piece of work, designed and made by Joan Wigley – a dear lifelong friend.

Just as June wove the threads of her life amongst her friends in Surrey, Carsluick and Cornwall and indeed all over the country (and the world), our memories of June are held together in our own quilt of laughter, joy, hospitality and sheer enthusiasm.

There was no one better to share the delight of something new – a dress, or a pair of shoes (especially if my husband Pat didn’t yet know that I’d bought them!). Her eyes would light up and she would want to touch, feel and then see me in the whole outfit. “Ooooh!” she would say, “How exciting!”

She loved a good joke – the ruder the better – and she would roar with laughter. Pat would sometimes phone her up with a joke especially because he thought she would enjoy it.

Her talents for cooking, sewing, weaving, gardening were endless and renowned and if any of us needed to talk something through, we would always go and see June.

I’m sure we all remember her too as surely the most glamorous seventy-something person in the world! I know that all of us here remember her gorgeous purple ensemble that she wore one Christmas and so I’m going to finish with a Warning from Jenny Jepson that June liked to remind us about now and then:

Warning
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
_____

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn back or
You can do what she’d want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

So please, there are many things for us to do and lots of ways to grow.
So get busy, be happy and live your lives.
Miss her, but let go.