Kathleen’s Eulogy
 
Kathleen Mary Keane born in 1936. She was known by many names 
- Kate, Kathleen, Katie, Mum, and Ma .
 
She was a fabulous Wife of 60 years, Mother, Grandmother, colleague, and a friend to many.
 
She brightened up any room she entered, had a contagious personality, and exuded positive energy. She made friends easily but worked hard to maintain them over time and long distances.
 
Beautiful and effervescent, inside, and out. She was always very particular about being well presented but she was above all kind and thoughtful. 
 
She was always mischievous and maintained a childlike innocence and outlook on life. 
 
She never acted or felt old to those around her, continuing to light up the room with her beautiful smile and paler than pale blue eyes all the way to the end. 
 
Mum was a Force of nature and scarcely sat down for long, she always had something going on and would be forever nipping around Sleaford and surrounding countryside for classes, various groups, church or to visit friends.
            
She was always trying new things from amateur dramatics (Pirates of Penzance, the Mikado and the Sound of music, stand out (and the latter explains the presence of the Nun’s habit in her wardrobe – just to clear that up).
 
Along with choral, golf, art, dress making, horse riding and keeping up with friends locally and globally, we have no idea how she had time for the family, but make time she did and was a natural matriarch – demonstrating soft power many years before it became a thing. 
 
She was the best of Mums and latterly a fantastic grandmother to her six lovely grandchildren.
 
Mum was born in Co Wicklow, the youngest of 5, and survived only by brother Jack. 
She had a happy childhood, although poor, her mother worked hard to provide for them all. This example stayed with her, and she grew up determined to succeed in life.
 
She was always hardworking, whether in her professional life or at home single-handedly managing the handover of countless RAF quarters that were always spotless and in far better shape than she had found them.
 
 She was determined that wherever we were in the world that she would build a home, she saved relentlessly and made sure we never went without and made our rented quarters as comfortable as possible.
 
Mum moved to Liverpool as a shy, quiet 18 year old girl (well that's what she told us) to start her nurse training. Her family teased her that they expected her back on the next boat home. A jibe that made her want to succeed even more.
 
She was still here over 60 years later.
 
She went on to qualify as a midwife, a vocation she loved and continued to practice wherever she could.
 
She met Dad who had just come back from a tour in Cyprus a few years later ( the details of that meeting aren’t clear but I’m sure Dad will tell you his version later). 
 
They married and lived in Aylesbury, Bucks surviving some of the coldest winters on record (coincidentally Christine arrived a year later followed two years later by me) before thankfully being posted to Singapore to thaw out. 
 
It was in Singapore that she worked as a private nurse and, as the story goes, she was working late and on her way home she fell into a monsoon drain (during the monsoons) and was lucky not to be swept away into the South China sea. Had that happened many of would not be standing here… Simon.
 
Mum got into the forces way of life, managing family life, new houses and new schools, essentially sacrificing her career to support Dad’s, moving every two years (Malta, Singapore, Lincolnshire (many times) and Scotland). 
 
She mentored new wives who were often far from home and isolated from everything they knew. 
 
She was as comfortable chatting with the late Duke of Edinburgh as she was with our Singapore Alma.
 
Mum was a good and kind person, she had no side to her, she was a lady who treated everyone the same way. Her expansive address book is testament to to how hard she worked to maintain friendships…. She loved a letter and would spend a huge amount of time each Christmas writing cards to them all…. Including those of us who spoke to her daily.
 
She put us all first, often at her own expense. 
 
As we all left home, she was yet again mobilised and dropped everything when the grandchildren started to arrive – she was always supportive but not interfering.
            
When Dad retired and they settled in Sleaford, she never once let the grass grow under her feet and dived into the local Community and importantly the church community in which she core member and Eucharist minister and flower arranger, she looked after little old ladies who were 20 years her junior!
 
Recently when she wasn’t as stable on her feet as she once been, she had to tend to her parish priest who had collapsed after mass essentially saving his life.
 
The last few years she has looked after Dad who, after two strokes was confined to the house and dependant on Mum and Simon. Her world became smaller when she gave up her driving licence a, friends were great with their visits and lifts to mass etc., but we all felt it was time that they moved closer to Chris and us. 
 
It wasn’t an easy process but after a few false starts and worries about leaving Simon behind and giving up her independence, she threw herself into it and was looking forward to her next chapter.
 
It is hard for all to accept her passing, we had such plans when Dad and Mum moved down, she was looking forward to getting involved with the Church and spending time by the sea with her family…. And so were we.
 
Sadly, that wasn't to be. She knew she was ill before she moved down – we knew it too when she told us that she had been to two funerals in the summer and hadn’t enjoyed either.
 
 
 
 
We must end by thanking a few people. 
 
We want to thank Father Matt, family, friends and to the well-wishers who in the past few months have sent their messages of condolence and sympathies (thanks also to those who left messages and donations on her tribute page).
 
Thank  you to those who have rallied around and given us great strength in this dark time. Your organization and your willingness to pitch in is greatly appreciated by Dad and the family.
 
Thank you all for coming to pay your respects to our lovely Mum, Kathleen.
 
 
And to the grandchildren, I know that Ma was inordinately proud of your achievements to date and knew that you all have wonderfully bright futures ahead of you.
 
She would have loved to see us all here together today and I know that if the timing had been better, we would have friends from across the globe paying their respects. But we know just how strong her faith was and that she is for sure in a much better place.  
 
I know that she was particularly grateful for Chris and Phoebe for giving up their time and their love to care for in her final few weeks and more recently for Dad. 
 
But I can’t finish without mentioning our lovely Pat, Mum’s adopted daughter, who in turn adopted, and gave mum the love and care that surpassed anything we could have hoped for – thank you Pat sincerely, we couldn’t have managed without you.  
 
We are going to miss her so much as a family and we will all have our own memories of her that we will treasure for ever. We are thankful of the time we had with her and are better for knowing her.
   
 
Thank you.