Though we need to grieve your loss

You dwell in that safe place in our hearts

Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.

John O'Donohue

My Sister

July 7, 1930 - January 24, 2015

Dorothy Alice Ruth (Thompson) Duguid

A bright light in my life

A few memories in tribute....

Though our mother bequeathed to us both

her love of threads and fabric

and a portion of her wonderful creativity

my sister received the gift in spades;

and along with it 

my mother's generosity

and giving spirit.

My house, and that of her children and grandchildren, I'm sure,

 is full of her beautiful pottery, her sewing projects and her exquisite needlework.

Out in the garden, for the last thirty years,

a ceramic owl she made has kept stray cats at bay

and has sheltered under the peonies and iris and various shrubs.

and she had a lovely garden

Five and a half years younger than me

we did not have the closeness growing up that

sisters born closer together would have shared,

but later, especially after we lost our mother 

who she had cared for so dearly and patiently in her late teens,

even though we lived far apart there was a

relationship that I cherished.

She was the little one at home when I first started school,

 and for companionship she had a

loyal and loving bull terrier who was with her constantly.

As one of her daughters has remarked she is probably

running free in the fields of Heaven

with Jabby at her heels. 

 I like to imagine that image!

She had such a busy and energetic life -

As a teen-ager she and a friend started a lending library in our home

(school libraries at that time were strictly for research, and not for the 

pleasure of reading)

a wonderful cook, - her recipes are treasured in my handbook of cookery;

she made her pottery skills and her kiln available to the classes she taught; 

and in later years she was a caring health aide and a comfort

to the sick and elderly.

I was in awe of her craft room, where her creativity

abounded in so many different and ingenious ways. 

And so pleased when she took up and mastered the Computer

and we were able to share all sorts of digital endeavours.

She was so proud of her children and her grandchildren,

and took such delight in them, and in conveying tales about

their visits and their accomplishments.

After a decade of suffering and sickness

I think that death, in the end, was a friend to her,

and I cannot begrudge her the release from pain,

but oh, I shall miss her - her laugh,

the news of her family,  our conversations about

politics and religion and children

and just everything that sisters talk about with a dear familiarity.

Rest easy, my lovely sibling.