TCF News, Winter 2020

Winter 2020 - TCF Newsletter | www.tcf.org.uk 8 In Memoriam Remembering our friends Denise Watson, who died at the age of 88 on October 27, 2020 shortly after suffering a stroke, served as the National PR Officer for The Compassionate friends for several years in the 1990s, as well as acting as Suicide Contact for the County of Avon and running a helpline for suicide bereaved parents. Denise was a Liverpudlian and the first of her family to go to university, studying French and Spanish, which remained lifelong sources of pleasure and consolation, and becoming a teacher. Twice married, she moved to Bristol in 1965, and the city became her home for the rest of her life. The suicide of her second son Matthew in 1990 was a devastating blow. Matthew was a witty and creative young man whose mental health had suffered from a long period of residence in a closed Buddhist commune, and Denise spent much time after 1990 drawing attention to the links between exposure to cults and risk of suicide. The Compassionate Friends proved an indispensable source of help during the hard years immediately after Matthew’s death, and Denise discovered in herself a talent for writing and speaking in public about the anguish caused by the suicide of loved ones, and for reaching out to others on the same path as herself. Living on her own for the last thirty years, she enjoyed good health until virtually the end of her life, and drew happiness from her many friends and her remaining family, not least the two grandchildren who did so much to enliven her last years. by Jonathan Duke-Evans, son of Denise Watson Remembering Denise Watson We are immensely grateful to Jonathan for facilitating a legacy gift Denise left in her will to The Compassionate Friends.