Here is the text of the talk given by Astrid and Susan at the funeral:
Mum, Mamma, Elisabet, Moster Ippe, Mormor, Farmor – even, occasionally, Mrs Lynn...was 88 years old last November.
Mum lived a long life and she lived it to the full. Her life ranged from a time before the motor car was the primary means of transport to a time when we can send instant messages to anywhere in the world.
She was born in Sweden, in the rural parish of Hjorted. She was the youngest of 3 children, daughter of a clergyman - our morfar. It was a different world; one where her father would go by horse and sleigh in thick snow along forest roads, to do his winter parish visits.
Most of Mum's childhood was spent in the Gothenburg area, much of it at Mölndal vicarage – prästgården -- a big, rambling, wooden building with large gardens, backing onto farmland and forest, which was the family home for 25 or 30 years. Some of us here remember it fondly from childhood visits and holidays.
Mum was young enough to be evacuated for six months during World War 2 to Falkenberg, further down the Swedish west coast, where she lived in a house which her father had bought for both sets of grandparents – one set upstairs (where Mum slept) and one set downstairs (where she had her meals).
It is over 30 years since our Dad, Jack, died. Mum & Dad were very close; we never heard an angry word between them through all the years. They shared the same values; always warm, kind and generous. They met while Mum was at a language summer school in Stratford-upon-Avon learning English. Dad was a teacher! He waited for three years - at Mum's father's request - while she finished her nursing training before they were married. Mum wrote – "we managed to keep together in spite of the distance. Jack was such a good letter writer. I had a letter EVERY day while we were apart".
They married in Sweden in 1954.
Our cousin Mats was page boy at their wedding. And subsequently remembers Mum and Dad returning to Sweden each year – and every time they came, it seemed they brought with them another baby girl! We three sisters were joined some years later by our ‘little’ brother Richard.
Some of you will know that Mum wrote a book! A rather lovely compilation of her childhood memories she wanted to pass on to us. At the end of this book, she wrote - and this seems pretty much to sum her up - I give thanks daily for all the blessings in my life. Mum was a thankful person throughout her life, always conscious of the many blessings and good things that were hers. Like her father before her, for whom she had a great admiration, she had a strong Christian faith and a love and gratitude for family, old and young, near and far.
Mum and Dad decided early on that, whilst they would live in England, summers would be spent with her family in Sweden. Swedish was spoken at home and we grew up bilingual, enjoying long summers in Gällinge at our grandparents’ summer cottage, a little house set among the woods and lakes of rural Sweden. We came to know our wider Swedish family really well and to appreciate with Mum the wonderful long days, the freedom and love of the outdoors of the Swedish summer.
Despite a very gentle nature, Mum was throughout life resourceful, determined and hard-working!-
In the 1950's and 60's it was no easy task to take a family of 5 on what used to be a 36-hour voyage across the North Sea, in days when the car (which had to be completely unloaded on the quayside) was hoisted by crane onto the ship and lashed to the deck for the crossing!
As the ferries improved, the journey became a little easier – but there were some years when delayed or missed boats led to longer and more adventurous journeys and we tell tales amongst ourselves, remembering 'that year when the ferry caught fire’...'that year when the headlights failed in Amsterdam and we nearly ended up in a canal'... 'that year when the boat was delayed and all 6 of us - plus a cello - spent the night in the car ' . Mum always kept a large tin in the front of the car, containing Ryvita, margarine and marmite and a knife for spreading. If any of us children in the back grew hungry, she would make us a little picnic. This tin came with us for years – a huge, round tin with Souvenirs written on the top in big elaborate writing. One year a customs officer at the border peered in and looked suspiciously at it – What’s in that tin? he asked. Mum always thought this was very funny, especially his face when she opened it to reveal the contents.
In Gällinge, Mum shopped and cooked for all of us and her parents and her brother (9 of us in all), for 7-8 weeks, in a kitchen without running water, and only an electric Baby belling with two hot plates and a tiny oven – and that only worked if one of the hotplates was switched off.
Mum was a kind, easy-going parent. She suffered uncomplainingly the endless stream of her three daughters' friends who always seemed to end up at our house en masse when we were younger – this from Sandy one of Karin's lifelong friends – 'the loving kindness she showed to all who came into her home made those times some of my best childhood memories'.
Mum and Dad both had a natural way of welcoming people into their home, giving them space, accepting them as they were, letting them relax and make a mess, talking to them, taking an interest, cooking for them. Mum baked all her own bread until we were well into our teens; there would be an endless succession of fruit cakes, buns, and, according to season, a mixture of home-made English and Swedish dishes: from pepparkakor and vetebröd, to hot cross buns and parkin from our English granny's recipe book. She delighted in putting food in front of her family and guests.
Mum was not only a home-maker. Having originally trained in Sweden as a nurse, Mum undertook a long teacher training course in Colchester and, after a career break to have Richard, she found satisfying work as a teacher for a nursery nurse course at the Colchester Institute. This was at a time when it was not at all usual for a woman with 4 children to take on paid professional employment.
We moved to Polstead in 1974. Inspired by the ‘self-sufficiency’ movement to sample the good life, Mum and Dad bought some hens and two pigs… We have interesting memories of that experiment…chasing runaway pigs up the long driveway, rattling feed-buckets to try to tempt them back home. (I had moved away from home by then – but every letter contained tales of the pigs’ latest exploits.)
The pigs did not last long but Mum continued to keep chickens for many years. Her grandchildren used to love helping her collect the eggs at Cherry Nook. There were also much-loved cats: Tiptoes, Kitty and Sandy.
Mum had for many years been very much a part of the life of Polstead church so, when she retired from her teaching post, it seemed natural that she should formalise this role and so she undertook yet more training, this time for licensing as a lay Reader, and subsequently served here in Polstead church as your Reader for many years.
Mum's family was destined to be far-flung! Having herself emigrated as a young woman, she felt it was very important to maintain the contact with her family in Australia after Rich moved there in 1995. She delighted in occasional visits 'down under', enjoyed the new direction of travel and was able to develop a meaningful contact with her four Australian granddaughters . Although they can’t be here today because of the great distance they all have such fond memories of Farmor and hold her up as a great example to follow - indeed all four have entered teaching or serving professions and she was very proud of them.
As the years went by Mum’s family continued to grow (14 grandchildren; 8 great grandchildren, step-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, the children of nieces and nephews); she embraced them all acknowledging birthdays with a card, a letter, a phone call, a small gift. She knew all their names and interests and had a genuine insight into their personalities and hopes and fears. Mum helped us introduce our own partners and children to the delights of the Swedish summer. And all have enjoyed visits to Cherry Nook and Hadleigh, playing Mum’s collection of little games – Mousie-Mousie, Flounders and not forgetting Flutter. She was always so pleased to see us when we arrived.
As you will all know, Mum had a strong faith, and she would let us know in her gentle way that she was holding us all in her thoughts and prayers at all times.
Her faith enabled her to bear with courage Dad's final years of illness, her own parents' passing, and the deaths of her brother and sister and of her good friend Margaret Orriss. Most recently, she faced with us the loss of our dear sister Karin two years ago. Karin is sadly missed today. It is a great sadness to us that Karin is no longer here to share the blessings and sorrows of our family life, and Mum felt her loss deeply.
Mum’s final years in Hadleigh were lived alone, but she never seemed lonely. Her kitchen walls were – quite literally - covered from top to bottom with photos and computer printouts of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Like a kind of crazy wallpaper. She delighted to hear of our doings, remembered all our birthdays, updated us on the activities of our wider family – and prayed for us all.
She bore her failing health with patience and courage, determined not to be burdensome and if at all possible to remain in her own home.
Sad as we are to part with Mum, her earthly body was truly crumbling – 'I am fine, but my frame is worn out', she would say. Only her good humour, her kindness and ever-thankful heart, along with an unquenchable faith in the loving purposes of her Lord and Saviour, survived intact to the end.
We know that Mum would want to say thank you - to you all for coming, to Jackie for her special role in leading the service today, to her family, friends and carers who have helped her in her declining years, and, in the words of the hymn, - to our God who from our mothers’ arms, has blessed us on our way, with countless gifts of love.
We can say farewell, with gratitude, for a life well-lived.
