TCF News, Summer 2022

Summer 2022 - TCF Newsletter | www.tcf.org.uk 10 Maureen, a much loved wife, mother and friend to many, died peacefully at home in Mistley, Essex in January 2022 aged 90. She was also an inspirational Nurse, Midwife, Health Visitor, Nurse Educator & Leader responsible for helping to set up one of the first degree courses which trained nurses could take. However it was the unfortunate bond that we both shared that initially drew us together. In 2017 our darling daughter Catherine died after a short illness. She was 31. Returning to our home, having spent the previous three months helping care for her at her home, my husband David and I got talking to Maureen one Sunday after church and discovered that both her children had died, David aged 20 and Michael aged 39. By then we had started attending our local TCF support group in Colchester and Maureen, having recently been bereaved again following the death of her husband Kerry, asked us if she could come along with us. She had originally joined TCF in the 1990’s following the death of David as a result of an epileptic seizure. As well as attending a local group she and her husband Kerry attended many of the national gatherings including some held in Australia when she and Kerry took to the road in their motor home for eight years on their ‘millennium adventure.’ As she once said to me “when you have lost a child then the importance of gathering material possessions around you including the perfect house pale into insignificance .” At these National Gatherings she found strength and support to cope with her loss and made many friends who she continued to be in touch with right up to her death. The last gathering she attended was the TCF 50th anniversary conference in 2019. In fact unknown to her at the time this was to be her last lengthy time away as she combined her time at the Gathering with a visit to friends who lived nearby. Never one to be phased by a challenge, during the first lockdown at the age of 88 Maureen decided to use the time to write a book telling her life story. In her book which she self published she focused on writing about how Michael her first born -who had Down’s Syndrome - made a powerful, positive lasting impression on all who knew him and was instrumental in being a source of joy, comfort and unity between Kerry and herself, friends and family, especially when David died. Maureen, a committed Christian also shares how Michael helped her in her personal faith to deal with the pain, doubts, anger and challenges she was going through. When her book was published last year she got to grips with even more technology and took part in several zoom and radio interviews and had her book reviewed in the medical and religious press. A copy of her book Michael A Transforming Presence is also available in the TCF library and can be purchased by contacting leftshoponline.co.uk We feel privileged to have known such a wonderful woman, whose life and faith inspired us and so many. Her friendship, wise words and perspective on grief and loss brought us and many others comfort and peace and she will be sadly missed. Tribute to Maureen by Julie Titley In Memoriam remembering Maureen Lahiff