Many of you who are reading this will have met Marjorie at the 2006-8 Weird Weekends. She was always to be found in the front row, often engaging in discussions of a seriously esoteric nature with the likes of Peter Robins.She has been very ill with multiple cancers for a year now, and she finally died at 6:30 this morning. Corinna and I have visited her daily for several weeks as she struggled bravely through what was to be her final illness.
Since I first arrived in this village in July 1971 she has been like a second mother to me. During my bitter conflicts with my own parents she loved and supported me. When my father died she was there for me, and when I married Corinna I asked her and Corinna's mother to sign the register as witnesses.
When people die the obituary writers invariably say what a dear, kind person the deceased was even if they were actually a nasty piece of work. However, (and this is not obituary writer hyperbole) Marjorie was the sweetest, kindest and most loving person I have ever met. I never saw her angry. I never heard a cross word. I have always loved her dearly, and you don't stop loving someone just because they are dead.
I usually conclude obituaries by saying that my heart goes out to her family. However, in this case, though we have no biological connection, I truly feel that she is part of my real family, as are her daughters Kaye and Lorraine, her son-in-law Roy and her three grandchildren David, Ross and Greg. I love you all, my dears, and share in your immeasurable loss.
Posts
In November Sahar Dimus, our guide on four CFZ Sumatra expeditions, died of liver failure leaving a widow Lucy and four Children. On the 2nd November, Dezyama D. Sangma, wife of our friend and colleague Dipu Marak, our collaborator on the 2010 Indian expedition died, leaving her grieving husband and two small children.
