It’s easy to eulogise someone after death, to make them sound almost impossibly wonderful. But Mon, I didn’t need to wait until you were gone to know how wonderful you were.
You listened with the ears of your heart, your head gently cocked to one side, and responded with love and wisdom, even though I suspect you doubted yourself far too often. You had a rare gift for making people feel heard, understood and cared for, simply by being there.
I feel so lucky, and so grateful, that our paths crossed at the school gates in the Devon village we once shared. What began there became nearly twenty years of friendship, and you brought so much to my life.
I hope I can carry something of you into my other relationships, and pass on some of the love and kindness you gave me so freely, so humbly, so naturally.
I keep thinking of a line from Thornton Wilder: “There's a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love.”
I think of that bridge, Mon, and of all the love you gave in your too short life. That love won't disappear. It will live on in Howard, Edi and George, and in all of us who were lucky enough to have known you and loved you. And I hope that, in the years ahead, we'll still feel your love and kindness guiding us, even though you're no longer here.
I miss you so much.
Tina Kennedy
23/10/2026
