Eulogy

This is the most difficult thing I have ever done. I thought that three minutes might be too long to reflect upon such a short life but I hadn't realised how much Hannah had affected the lives of all of us here, and how much she meant to each one of us in different ways.

My most recent memory of Hannah is when the family came up to Epsom on Derby Day. They all stopped by where I was working for a few minutes. Hannah soon got itchy feet and wanted to be off to the fun fair - so much to be done, so much to explore. This will be my enduring memory of Hannah. Always wanting to be doing something, never sitting still for long. I am sure this was a sign of her intelligence and curiosity for the world in which she lived.

Last Sunday the family went for a walk in the woods, Hannah and Del running ahead as usual. Unfortunately Del saw another dog and shot off, dragging Hannah face down through the mud. She wouldn't let go and came home covered with mud, Del stil on the lead. Del was suitably admonished by Hannah and put in his cage.

Hannah was mad about dalmations and it was Richard and Shirley's constant fear that they would find Del covered with black painty spots, which would have resulted in the poor dog being shaved to remove them.

Hannah was fearless! Shirley isn't too good with the chickens, so Hannah used to collect the eggs, which Richard sold to his customers in B-Watch. Sadly only 65% made it back to the house. Not good for trade!

Recently travelling to Paris for her jabs, the captain of the aircraft was greeting passengers. Hannah said, "Hello Captain" and when everyone turned right to the seats, Hannah turned left onto the flight deck! On the way back she dropped a toy under the aircraft seat, crawling so far under to collect it that only her feet were showing. Richard had visions of an emergency landing because a passenger was stuck under the seats - he would have had trouble explaining that to Swanwick!

Hannah was friendly. She could often be found next door helping herself to a neighbour's biscuits whilst leaving her wellies politely by their back door.

She adored her big sister Gemma but knew exactly which buttons to push to wind her up, taking labels from her beanies and hiding all her treasured possessions.

If Hannah had been organising this funeral, we would all have been wearing dinosaur or Scooby Doo outfits and retiring to MacDonalds for chips only. She was far too discerning to eat the burgers!

To sum up Hannah, we could just look at the letters of her name:

H - happy - always
A - active - always
N - naughty - sometimes
N - normal - definitely
A - angelic - possibly/possibly not
H - humour - wicked!

Undoubtedly, heaven is where she is now, and if I die and go to heaven tomorrow and St Peter says that the 'puter' that controls the heavenly gates has 'crashed' I will know exactly who has been playing games on it.

Back