This post is for anyone and everyone who knew my sister June. Those who knew her and those who thought they did. A memoriam if you like, for a much loved sister. For those who loved her, those who mourn her and for me.Others, please feel free to scroll past.
My earliest memory, a real memory of you June, was being taken to Horsham, a sunshine school, where you and Georgina had spent some time after the war. I was very young, and didn’t understand why you were there. You took me under the Nissan huts and we shared sweets. Then you cried, you wanted to come home. I promised I would ask if you could. We both knew that my request, as it came from me, would be futile but I did ask. I am not sure how long after this you returned to our bungalow in Portchester but it seemed an age.I was the youngest at the time and we shared our home with our parents, Georgina and our beloved brother Tony. You and Georgina were much older than Tony and I so didn’t have much in common but our love for each other.You were different from us, Nan would tell us that you had Meningitis as a baby and that had left it’s mark. She said you were ‘different’, a little bit slower than your peers but I loved you for that.We often slept head head to toe in a large bed, being left with Georgina in charge and she would read us stories. How you would giggle at ‘ghosts and ghouls’, she told us about, while I hid under the blankets.
My next memory was of the Portchester May Queen, I was a train bearer, 4 years old, Tony carried the crown on a cushion and you were a maid of honour. A lovely day, ending with us dancing around the Maypole. I wonder if you ever thought of that day?
You found school very hard, no special needs back then but you and I, as I grew up, would spend hours reading, me teaching you and you lapping up the learning.You were very clever , practical, making things, sewing, embroidering. I still have a lovely picture you made out of black jack paint and silver paper , a crinoline lady with a parasol. No one taught you, you just knew how to do it.We would go cycling, to Lee on Solent and laugh, a lot. You had a lovely laugh.Did you ever think of those days? The days you took Lulu , our Siamese cat out on your shoulders, on a lead. She loved it, loved you.Although you were much older than me, we shared happy times, few in my life, but always happy with you.
A sad memory, is of the day you left home.You were 21 and Mum did not approve of your choice of partner. We were coming back from Portsmouth, on the Gosport bus and you got off long before our stop. That’s when you told me, you were going to live with your future mum in law and not coming home. I was heartbroken. You were part of my ‘respite’, my ‘okay at home’ and I would miss you. My favourite photo of you, in your spotted dress and urchin haircut, holds pride of place here ‘on the farm’.
We stayed in touch, I visited as often as I could. I was there when your first baby girl Angela,died, we cried together, held each other. I was there when your son and two other daughters were born and we shared our children’s times together regularly. It was good.I was Godmother to your first daughter daughter Tina and watched the children grow up.As adults, we saw each other regularly, throughout the years even after I moved to Portsmouth and then back to Catisfield. I helped you through your husband’s illness and subsequent death. We had moved to Wales a year before but came back many times and I would spend days with you.
We all talk about you June, especially memories of the lovely holiday you took with us at our cottage in Monmouth.Such fun times. You were like a big child in your wonderful innocence. Asking so many questions as children do. Staying up, long after David and I had gone to bed, learning to make dream catchers with Marie, giggling for hours. I don’t think we stopped laughing together the whole holiday. Wonderful times. You helped muck out the ponies, weed our garden and just spend hours enjoying our home. We went out for day trips and you never ceased to make us all happy.
After you returned home, both of us, all of us sad to see you go, you met your second partner, Keith and before long we were at your wedding. Another lovely day.I still have the pressed flowers you gave me, the wooden tulips, the beautiful little clock for my study. All here. All treasured gifts given with love.
Although we had moved to Wales, we visited often, always spending time with you and Keith. We shared friendship. sisterhood, love and laughter.
When sadly our sister Georgina died, we both said our goodbyes and spent a while chatting. You, sharing your kindness, your compassion and memories of us all. But that was when it changed and we both know why. But today is not a time for that. I never had a chance to say goodbye. I was kept out of your life for someone elses’s warped satisfaction and will always regret that, although it was not of my doing. I never had a chance to say goodbye June, that I will always regret. We did talk at Tony’s and I made my peace with you as you did with me but that was all we had. Throughout our lives we shared fun, happiness, grief and sadness and I remember mostly your innocence, your gullibility, your kindness and your love. I may not be there to say goodbye but you will know that I was there in spirit. I will trust our past, our closeness. Our love. Perhaps in the past few years, those who pushed us apart with lies and stories , think they succeeded in alienating us. They are wrong. I never blamed you for anything. Never held any animosity towards you. You were gullible, trusting and they were there, I was not. But in my head I know you knew the truth, knew that I loved you. Love you.
So here I am saying goodbye, sending my love, my memories and smiling. You brought so much happiness, so much love, in your childlike but wise way. Until a few years ago, we were very close, I was grateful for you to be able to stay and help look after Tony in his last months, wish I could have done that. My last memory of you June, was in his bungalow, talking about the awful things you had been told. You said you knew none of it was true, believed me as you always have done. We hugged, said we loved each other and parted friends. That is what I will add to my memories,that is how I will remember us. So bye bye Junie, give Tony and Georgina a hug for me please.They may have kept me away but they can never steal my memories. God bless.
Your sister Carol Ann xx
carolannwright 
Reblogged this on carolannwright and commented:
Thinking of you today xx
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