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Theresa our mother, a lady who lived a full life for 81 years.

Re-calling and reflecting on her lifes journey gives a fuller understanding of who she was.

She belonged to a generation of 'tough ladies' who grew up during the second world war and learned resilience through the hardship created by war time.

Born on the 23rd march 1930, a weak and sickly child with a murmur in her heart and wasn't expected to survive teenage years.

Now 81 years later, 6 pregnancies, and 5 children later here we are telling her story.

She would recall her school days bemoaning the fact that she had to stay in Primary 7 for 2 years as there were no high school places for girls at that time and she hadnt yet attained the leaving age.

Her parents had been advised by doctors of the time that she probably wouldn't be strong enough for work and possibly would be  better for her to remain at home and help keep house.

Theresa didn't agree and took herself off to Glasgow and found herself a sales job in a ladies fashion store. Like her mother, she had a great interest in dress and design and had a natural aptitude for needlework that was to hold her in good stead for the future.

Her father was a talented pianist and organist, although mum had no formal music lessons she was gifted with perfect pitch and was able to play piano from an early age. When we were kids she'd often listen to a song on the radio, then sit down at the piano and play it.

Her reminisance often took her back to her late teens, early twenties living at home with family at a time when clothes and shoes were still on ration. Often they depended on her mothers dressmaking skills to keep them up with the latest fashions. Uncle Jack can give testimony to this as being the youngest in the family he can recall as a young boy being hoisted onto the kitchen table and being used as a tailors dummy while his mother pinned a hem on a dress.

Mum always said that first up was best dressed: If you didn't hide it you lost it. She talked about having one pair of dress shoes and 6 tins of Tuxan, so you could change the colour of your shoes to match the outfit

Mum was also a great dancer and loved ballroom dancing. How suprising then when she married Dad in 1952, a man with two left feet. He didn't even dance with her at their wedding, but got one of mums ex dance partners to dance with her instead.

After only 3 months of marriage Dad was diagnosed withTB and spent the next 6 months in hospital.

Following his hospitla stay he had a long recuperation period at home, mum went to work and kept the houshold solvent.

Dad recovered, together with mum built himself a business and a family of 5 kids and several dogs in the following years.

In 1969 my mum's life was shattered for a second time when my father had surgery for a brain tumour after which he contracted meningitis and then suffered a stroke. After many months he was discharged home to rehabilitate in so far as he could, it was a slow process for him but with my mothers determination and good nursing care he regained independence and achieved a reasonable quality of life against the odds. 

During this time mum went back into shop work to supplement the family income.

In 1978 my father fell ill again with pancreatic cancer and passed away peacefully at home in July of that year.

These were difficult years for her. She continued to work through to support me and my younger sister through our youth.

Mum married Frank Flynn in 1983.  In 1990 when all her peers were retiring mum decided to put her needlework skills to use. She took a part time post with Hardy curtain makers in Bathgate. She loved her time there and experienced great job satisfaction.

A few years into her marriage Frank developed a cancer and is health slowly deteriorated, and mum was thrown into her nursing role yet again. Mum also had health issues during this time making life somewhat difficult for them both.

Frank succumbed to his cancer and related illness and died in August 1996.

Theresa was once again on her own.

Over the next few years she picked up the pieces and began to rebuild life for herself.

Over time she made a trip to Canada to visit her lifelong friend Nan. She made a few trips to South Africa to see our sister as well as go on several safari's which she loved and went on a number of foreign holidays with us girls.

Mum enjoyed experiencing different cultures and meeting people, she had the knack of making people feel comfortable in her company so much so people she would just meet would tell her their whole lifestory.  She had a certain charm that even the odd celebrity who crossed her path couldnt resist. Although at the time she had no idea who she was chatting to, they were just nice friendly people. My favourite was on holiday,  I caught her chatting  to Morgan Freeman and his family,  afterwards she turned to me and said what a lovely theraputic speaking voice that man has, clearly not having a clue who he was.

We took mum to Ibiza in 2008 for a family celebration, we had dinner on the terrace. Mum sat at the top of the table like the matriarch she was...all 4"9 of her and held court for the evening. It was one of the funniest and most enjoyable evenings and will remain in our heads and hearts for a long time to come.

Up until May this year mum maintained her independence despite her increasing mobility problems. She lived alone and walked with the aid of a rolater which she would put in the boot of her car and go shopping.

She had every journey impeccably timed to ensure she didn't encounter traffic or parking problems. She carefully chose the stores she visited using only those with disabled access. 

In summary mum tried to live life to the full.

Through her life's journeyTheresa had more than her fair share of ups and downs. She was a lady of great wisdom, fortitude, strength and courage. She had great faith and love of God, even though she often said that he 'God' had a wicked sense of humour.

Above all this, she was our mother, she was greatly influencial in who each of us are today and most importantly offered each of us that great gift of unconditional love.

We discovered these words from Theresa's pen in her diary the day after her death but written by her in the week prior to her death.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

While you wait for the good times to come round again

You know you will be stronger at the other end

But, meantime it’s driving you round the bend!

What is it for?

Who can say you get through yet another day?

But hey, each day you are getting stronger

So where’s that coming from? I wonder

It makes you think don’t it?

 

Love Mum.

 

Mum was a active supporter to the hospice and asked in the event of her death that loved ones make a donation rather than spend money on flowers