For Leonie, as she is laid to rest 30th March 2020.

God bless you, Leonie, God bless you.
You are free now Leonie, free of the falls, the mobility difficulties, the problems with your teeth, the anxieties, free from those interminable weeks and months on psychiatric wards, the injections and the pills, free from the dribbling side effect from the medication, free of the stooping back and the osteoperosis, free from the inflamed skin, free of all cares of this world. Free of those things which you bore without complaint. With your undimmed spirit you danced and sang to your favourite songs, turning around and wiggling your hips, bless you Leonie.

I have helped to give a good send off to many people, but dear Leonie your passing has hit me immensely and caused me untold grief, I miss you so.
Some times that have caused me tears have been when I have thought about how I will tell others you are gone, or when I have thought of those times when I have told others I have lost you dear Leonie.
We are giving Leonie a good send off as a mark of the love, affection, and esteem in which we held her. We can celebrate the happiness she brought into our lives. Although her life was one of only 57 short years, not a full term, Leonie’s passing was special as she died on her birthday, she was special to those who knew her.

Leonie never smoked, she tried once and said it was like putting fire in her mouth. She didn’t drink, except for the occassional Christmas snowball, she never took street drugs. She liked to spend her days having teas in cafes and going into charity shops.
We used to do a budget for Leonie, and she would put aside an amount from her lowly benefits each month, and then we would go on holiday. We had our own rooms in Malta, Rouen, Pevensey Bay, the West Country, Stratford-upon-Avon and other places. We took the train from Rouen to Paris. It was a great pleasure for both of us to visit her sister Alison in Madrid. I remember the look of pleasure as she put money aside to save for holidays, and the joy she exuded when we were away.

Leonie was creative and liked a variety of art activities, including colouring books and making pictures with paints and pastels. She enjoyed word search. Leonie was always there if there was an arts or crafts class, and she made me several nice pieces while she was at Elizabeth Court, and I have an origami she made some time ago and a collage of the Eiffel Tower she made with Sarah.

We were together for 22 years.
We saw each other daily, and we cooked together, a favourite meal being pheasant. We bought the birds from gamekeepers in the countryside and cooked one at Easter and at Christmas and at other times.
Leonie worked in one or two jobs, including as a waitress and as a bought ledger clerk, and I recall people doing that job in offices where I worked as an accounts clerk. Leonie valued her independence even though she was unable to work as times changed.
Indeed dear Leonie, you were never in hospital until the last three years of your life. You told me how you were once assessed by a hospital in Farnborough in north Kent and you ran away before they could keep you in.
Leonie, you were always compliant with medication and took your daily amount of pills without fail, you would keep them ready for each day. Now you have to take no more pills and have no more depot injections. Your spirit always shone through whatever the adversity and whatever burden you had to bear.

Leonie shone on me, she shines on me still. Leonie brought a lot of happiness into the world, she never did any real harm to anyone.
I have cried for you as I know you would have wept for me.

Losing Leonie makes me realise:- What is life for? It ends and we are with The Lord. Why do we bother with all life’s business when there is this one result? God bless you Leonie. Life seems inconsequential, all those things we aim for are as nothing when we are called to the Lord.
I know Leonie is beaming down on me and the good things which come into my life are lit up by her shining presence.
God has His purpose, and your time was now Leonie.

God bless you Leonie, God bless you.