Example of Eulogy for a Mother

Hello and welcome. My name is Ros and I feel honoured to be able to tell you about my mum Gwen, who we are here today to say goodbye. I plan to spend today celebrating the woman who was vibrant and loving, and a stoic mix of Dutch and Scottish descent. I was mum’s third child and was lucky to spend my teenage years traveling around the country following dad’s work with both of them, my older siblings having left the nest by then.

Most of you knew mum in a different context to myself and my siblings. Some of you were lifelong friends, tennis or golf team members, and square dancing friends. She’d be so pleased to see you here today, her club was very important to her and we were really impressed that she was the president of the women’s golf competition for many years running. Mum always kept herself busy, I almost had to make an appointment with her after I left home!

Mum’s first love was her family, her seven brothers and sisters were her best friends throughout her life. Mum often commented on the close bond they all shared that resulted in a lifetime of love and companionship that was apparent to all of us cousins at the many family and Christmas parties we attended together. I have many good memories of the Christmases spent at Nan’s in Turramurra surrounded by aunts and uncles, noisy boy cousins, pretty blond haired girls and wonderful food, and Santa giving out presents to all from under the tree from Nan. I remember the women, my mum included, it was the early 1960’s, all beautiful blondes dressed in bright summer dresses, laughing and holding large platters of delicious food prepared by them all, glasses of drinks chinking with ice as we all sat under the trees in Nan’s garden.

Mum started her working career as a secretary in Sydney, taking busses and trains to her office far across the city. My dad and mum met when he began to spend a lot of time around their home and he became a regular invitee to tea. They married in 1952 and spent their honeymoon in Forster NSW. My aunt told me mum was beside herself when she found herself pregnant with a honeymoon baby who of course was my sister Maxine born nine months to the day of their wedding! There were many children born to my aunts and uncles during those years and the family quickly expanded to 23 cousins. My brother was born in 1955 and then me six years later.

I was born in Wollongong after mum and dad moved from Sydney. We had a lovely home and dad opened his engineering business. Mum didn’t work after she had children and unlike mothers today was able to stay home and run the household, and play tennis. Of course we all went to church in those days, it seemed important to mum to go. I think mum’s religion was helpful for mum during the years ahead when there were several difficult times and some more moves as dad had to travel to find work. To his credit dad always found good jobs that brought in enough income to provide for mum and us. After Maxine and Stephen left and I got to travel around the country with them for dad’s work, mum and dad settled in Melbourne. They built a lovely home at Patterson Lakes where many family get togethers were held with us and their eight grandchildren. Unfortunately dad became unwell with a heart condition and then cancer, and he died in 1993 leaving mum a widow at 62. Mum had many friends around her and her family as well, many came regularly from Sydney to visit. She spent a lot of her time continuing her love of tennis and golf and enjoyed many social events with her long standing group of friends.

One of the couples mum and dad spent time with were Les and June. Later Les and mum became a contented couple and we were pleased she found a person who cared for her, taking her out for a meal and the occasional holiday. Mum found a unit in Frankston and happily decorated it in pinks and blues, colours she said dad would never have allowed her to use. With furniture fitting for an aging lady and her new Subaru Liberty, mum was very happy and confident for many years to live alone and still enjoy her social life. The time came however for mum to have some help and she begrudgingly moved into a single bedroom supported living facility. Mum spent so much time doing puzzles, reading and her knitting and would be disappointed to know they did not prevent the Alzheimer’s she eventually contracted. Mum was moved into the high care facility where the staff called her “feisty”! She died there following complications of a fall that broke her hip surrounded by her loving family.

It occurs to me that I tell you today the sequence of events in my mother’s life, I cannot impart the daily rituals, the pots of tea, the batches of rock cakes and Anzac biscuits, the aprons filled with beans, the colanders of shelled peas and years of devotion she gave all of us throughout her life. Mum lived twenty years more than her husband and never gave anyone reason to dislike her. Like us all she had some tough times and was able to retain her grace and keep going. I admired my mother and her life of commitment and dedication to her family. I believe she will be at rest now and will live on in the memories and hearts of those who loved her and she loved.