Christine was a couple of years older than me. I was born and lived in London, but every summer the family would spend a week or two at my Grandparents’ house, Sunnyside, in Great Coxwell. Christine’s dad, Tony, was my dad’s older brother, so every year we would have a meet-up, sometimes in Sunnyside or sometimes at Olive and Tony’s house in Oxford. The times at Sunnyside are some of the best memories of my childhood, and spending time with Christine and her family a guaranteed part of it. I remember us all going for walks, the garden with the railway at the back, the garden at Sunnyside and sitting all together in the huge front room. There were other occasions, too; family visits and, after out grandmother died and grandad came to live with us in London, occasional times when Christine’s family came to us. When moved to Berkshire in 1979, considerably closer to Oxford, we still continued to meet very occasionally. Although we were not “close”, we always got on well and I was able to help in a very small way with her research into family history, which she traced back to the 16th Century. Christine was always there, always on the end of a phone and willing to chat. She was part of life. We spoke on the phone about a week before she died, and she sounded positive and happy, determined to push forward with her life.
As always with friends departed, now she is gone I’m finding out more and more about her and wishing I had known her rather better.
God Bless, Christine.
Dave