Margaret Litchfield (Marianne
Christian), RIP 2015
[Editor's note: this was
digitised from a paper booklet produced by Margaret (mum) circa
2005. You'll see that there's at least one section missing,
which I'll try and patch in due course. The chronology is
patchy, mind you, as you'll see, so it's best to think of a lot
of this as more a set of anecdotes and memories than a
structured auto-biography. Some sections sound like Simon (dad),
some sound like mum re-writing what he's saying! It's also odd
that, although this goes up to about the mid-eighties, there's
nothing whatsoever about the thirty years following, other than
a retro-added line mentioning grandchildren! Anyway, enjoy.
Steve Litchfield, 2024]
SIMON'S STORY
I was born in 1936 in the house in Ashcott in which I was to live until 1959. It was an old house with a huge garden and orchard. There was no running water in the house � we had a well and a pump in the courtyard � and we used oil lamps for lighting for many years.
My first memory was sitting in my pram pushing coloured beads along a string. I still remember how I enjoyed this occupation.
I had two older sisters and they would take me for walks in the pram and later in a pushchair. Marie would take me over the Ashcott fields and doubtless inspired me with her own love of the countryside. Marie and Antoinette also told me the bed-time stories of Anderson and Grimm, many of which gave me horrible nightmares.
My mother taught the piano and I would listen for hours to her pupils' efforts, and later her own competent playing, from which was born my own love of classical music.
As I grew older, there was so much to occupy me. I did not go to school as my father had an M.A. from Cambridge so taught all his children at home. He gave me lessons every morning for an hour or two. There were several farms nearby and I spent much time at Winslades Farm in our road "helping". I loved the cows and soon learnt how to drive them from one area to another. My favourite toy had always been my toy farm and when we played farms in our orchard I was always Farmer Simon. Ernie always liked to be a horse and put in a field � a section at the top of the orchard. Once we forgot all about him and went to play next door, until a plaintive neigh alerted us and a voice asked: "When are you going to use me?"
We climbed hayricks and went on chalk chases and every year Mum took me to the horse chestnut tree on the way to Pedwell to collect conkers. I planted one behind the house and it grew into a huge beautiful tree.
I became interested in butterflies and with my friends, David, Roger and Royston, collected them in butterfly nets and jam jars and learnt to identify them. I am filled with shame now to think of how I took away their freedom and their lives. I can only say that there were hundreds of butterflies everywhere in those days and that collecting them was a popular past-time.
We also enjoyed playing cricket in one of the farmer's fields. We used a tennis ball but the practice helped me when I finally went to school.
There was never any money to spare in those days. (My father was severely wounded in the First World War and was thereafter unable to work, apart from some tutoring at home.) We children found ways of earning a small amount of money. I would deliver Mrs Winslade's grocery order to the shop for one penny and we would all pick blackberries and sell them for four pennies a pound. Although Dad only had the use of one arm, he made a vegetable garden, and he would pay me a penny an hour to do some digging. We had a wonderful apple orchard so always had plenty of delicious apples. We kept chickens too, so had some eggs.
However, our food was very basic. I got very tired of bread and dripping and didn't really like the nettles which Mum cooked. I was too thin and they gave me malt and cod-liver oil but nothing helped me put on weight.
In 1939 Bridget was born � another sister. There was a long wait until I finally had a brother, Julian, and he was still a baby when I went to boarding school. Marie and Antoinette were always close friends, as well as sisters, so Bridget became my special friend. We played shops in one of the old sheds, selling all kinds of things including drinks � coloured water made from crepe paper. The girls each had their own "flat" in the sheds where they changed their clothes to go off somewhere.
We were never bored yet loved a chance to celebrate, so we made much of birthdays, Christmas, Easter, and May Day. Bridget insisted on being the May Queen with a crown of daisies and cuckoo flowers. All the girls had white dresses and daisy-chain necklaces.
Christmas was always a time of great excitement. Dad insisted on bringing in masses of greenery � holly, ivy and bay � to decorate the house; the girls made lots of crepe paper garlands to hang around the walls and we had a small artificial Christmas tree on which we lit real candles. Mum always made a Christmas pudding and mince pies and each Christmas Eve we left some for Father Christmas...
We had small gifts in our stockings but I was very happy to find an apple, nuts, a pair of gloves, and a drawing book.
Lots of carol singers came round and we had our own family
sessions with Mum playing the piano and all of us singing
heartily. Dad didn't have much of a singing voice but he loved to
hear us all.
We were often invited to the Poole's Christmas party which as
very special as Mr Poole was an amateur magician and fascinated us
with his tricks.
Every summer there was a village Sports Day and we took part eagerly. Once I won 2/6d in a running race and was thrilled. It was a fortune to me.
The family owned two old sit-up-and-beg bicycles and once Marie persuaded me to ride over the moors with her as far as Wookey Hole. I wasn't very old and found it quite taxing but I was pleased to have kept up. We all loved the peat moors and came to know them quite well.
We very rarely travelled in a car, though my friend Peter's mother would include me in the annual trip to the pantomime at Weston-Super-Mare. This was a very great treat for me.
Now and again we would go to Burnham-on-Sea on the train but this involved a two-mile walk to the station at Ashcott which seemed a long way when done in reverse at the end of an enjoyable but tiring day at the seaside.
WAR
These were the years of the Second World War but they didn't affect my life in a major way. Only three bombs were dropped on Ashcott during the entire war and none of them exploded. I remember one of them falling: I was alone in the orchard, wondering where everyone was, when a plane flew over and there was a tremendous thump.
The most exciting incident was witnessing an air fight overhead � a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt. They disappeared from view and we never knew who was the victor.
Of course we were all issued with gas masks and, as I was only four, I was given a Mickey Mouse one. When the air raid siren sounded once, my mother put this over my face but I threw it off immediately and refused to wear it again.
Later in the war my father took me on a train to visit Aunt Lucy. As we changed trains at Temple Combe, we saw some Canadian troops going to the South Coast. I was the only child on the platform and, seeing me, they greeted us and threw lots of bars of chocolate in our direction. These landed on the line but Dad collected every one and we went on our way rejoicing with our unexpected treasure.
The Americans came too and just before D-Day they invaded Ashcott. Jeeps and tanks drove all the way along Middle Street where we lived and once again the generous men threw chewing gum to all of us children as they passed.
I never knew my: grandparents on my father's side but Granny and Grandpa Fisher visited us on rare occasions. I knew the latter best as he lived to his eighties. He lived in Northampton and during his working life making footwear he used to walk eight miles to work each day. He was tall with a good crop of fair hair and as he never went bald I've always hoped that I did indeed take after him.
Mrs Moody lived next door and sometimes her daughter, Vi, with her son, David, would come to stay. David liked to come and play with us all, sometimes bringing his own cricket bat and ball � superior to anything we had seen. In his grandmother's house next door, there was a treasure chest for his use filled with every kind of expensive toy. I loved to explore this on rainy days.
I was ten when my brother, Julian was born, but my own happy days of childhood were nearly over. My friend, Royston, who lived in the Police Station opposite our house, would continue his education locally. So would many of my village friends. But my father was convinced that a Catholic boarding school was the best place for me.
SCHOOL DAYS
One day I found myself looking round Prior Park in Bath with Dad and then I sat down to take an entrance examination. They gave me a picture of a farm and country scene and left me to write an essay about this. This was right up my street and I wrote happily for many pages. This effort secured me a place in the school.
The following September I was taken to Cricklade, the Preparatory School for Prior Park, where I was to remain for two years. I was not happy away from home even though there was beautiful countryside around the school. I was of slender build and not very strong so found the compulsory rugby and boxing a torment. However, I appreciated the splendid cricket ground with its nets and proper equipment in the summer term and eventually became captain of my team.
I did well in every subject. As I had never been to school, they didn't expect much from me and put me in the very lowest class. Within a year, I had been put up four classes and was the top of each one.
Hedley Goodall gave our elocution lessons, He was a well known radio star in those days and he made our lessons both interesting and enjoyable.
Every Sunday after Mass we were taken on a long walk, usually towards Cirencester. We walked in a long crocodile, very different from the freedom I had known exploring the countryside at home.
When I was thirteen, I transferred to Prior Park, where I was in the Junior School for a further two years.
I was no happier here. The masters were very strict and used the strap at the least provocation. My parents arranged for me to have piano lessons but I found Miss Hodge's teaching boring. All she cared about was endless scales and all I wanted was to enjoy playing beautiful music. We parted company at the end of Junior School and I had no more school piano lessons.
LOSING A SISTER
When I was fifteen, there was another traumatic event. Marie had been staying with the Carmelite nuns at their monastery in Exmouth and had decided to join them permanently.
The clothing ceremony was to take place at the end of April during the Easter holidays. There seemed to be no way that any members of the family could be present for this, but the priest from Glastonbury came to our help. He took three of us, Antoinette, Bridget and me, to Exmouth in his car.
In those days, this was a very long journey, and we didn't expect to have the opportunity to visit Marie again after this occasion.
I was not happy about Marie's decision because I saw how upset our parents were. It seemed all wrong to me that they should have been caused so much distress.
However, we witnessed Marie dressed as a bride making the commitment which was to bring her life-long joy, and eventually Dad and Mum accepted her vocation and kept in touch by letter.
In September, I started in Senior School. Two things happened which made life a bit better for me. I joined the school orchestra and played second violin. I also used to listen to talented other pupils playing the piano. Classical music was my joy then and is to this day.
The second thing that happened was that I joined the R.A.F. Air Corps. (We all had to join one of the Forces Corps in Senior School.) We did the usual marching and exercises and were taken up in an aeroplane. The pilot had a quiet word with me and said that if I wanted to be in the R.A.F. for my National Service that I should take the cadet exams now.
These exams were voluntary but I decided to take his advice and did a lot of extra work, even in the holidays.
When I was seventeen, at Prior Park working for my A-levels, I suddenly rebelled. I had had no money all my life and I couldn't bear the poverty any longer. Although it was the autumn term, not the end of a school year, I made up my mind to leave.
I went home for Christmas and never returned. I started work at Lloyds Bank, Bridgwater, and earned the princely sum of three pounds ten shillings a week. I gave my mother the ten shillings a week for my keep and saved most of the rest.
As the office Junior, I was given all the lowest tasks. Each morning I had to fill up all the ink wells and change the blotting paper for each cashier along the counter. I learned to do other jobs but was never a cashier at Bridgwater.
The Bank knew that my career with them would be interrupted because every young man was called up to do two years National Service as soon as he was eighteen.
So, in November, I left the Bank and joined the Air Force.
NATIONAL SERVICE
After the initial square bashing introduction, I had the very good fortune to be posted to St Eval in Cornwall.
The pay was four shillings a day and I managed to save most of this too! I was put in the Pay Corps and did so well here that the Squadron Leader suggested that I should stay on in the Air Force and become an officer. I declined with thanks because I didn't want a job where I could be posted to different places. I was never adventurous, longed only for my own home where I could put down permanent roots � and home to me had to be Somerset.
One unfortunate thing happened soon after I arrived in Cornwall. I developed a very bad abscess on my gums and was sent to the R.A.F. dentist. He knocked me unconscious with gas and, when I came round, I found my front four teeth were missing... Not good for a young man of eighteen.
The two years passed reasonably pleasantly, mainly due to the magnificent scenery in every direction. I walked to the beach at Mawgan Porth, and sometimes went for a longer walk towards Padstow. I made some good friends and we would play cricket on the sand and other beach games.
We liked the village about a mile and a half away and sometimes went to the pub in the evening. There was a beautiful garden there where we could sit and relax. We couldn't go often for none of us had much money.
I went to the Catholic Church on Sundays. It was attached to a Carmelite Monastery and I became friendly with the priest, Fr. Phelan. When I discovered a mutual love of classical music, I would go to his house once a fortnight to listen to his records, many of which were his favourite operas.
We all had to take turns to do Night Guard Duty. We would sit alone in the local Church of England church and be on watch. Someone would check frequently to make sure that we were staying awake. I often wondered what we were guarding.
I slept in a hut with five others and fortunately we all got on well and whiled away many enjoyable hours playing whist.
Finally my Air Force interlude was over, leaving me with a love of Cornwall and the addresses of my friends with whom I kept in touch for many years.
MY FIRST CAR
I returned home and to my interrupted career in Lloyds Bank, Bridgwater. I bought a car, an old Ford for 28 pounds, and travelled to work in this. The only problem was that this was very reluctant to start, particularly on cold mornings. The usual way to start this car was to stand in front of the bonnet, insert the starting handle, and turn it until the engine too began to turn over. Even this didn't always work and on many occasions my father had to push my car along the road until it decided to start.
One perk of working in this Bank building was its position in the centre of Bridgwater. Each Carnival Day we would all sit upstairs in warmth and comfort and have a grandstand view of the famous Carnival.
GIRLFRIENDS
Our neighbour, Mrs Moody, had moved to a different house in Ashcott but we still kept in touch with her, and her grandson David came to see her often. One day he brought his girlfriend, a beautiful young girl called Rosemary.
She, like him, lived in Bristol so when I went to stay with David
for the weekend, he took me to Rosemary's house to meet her
family. I was very taken with her younger sister Margaret, who was
fifteen, but said nothing at the time.
[PAGE MISSING] - There's a page (at least) missing here in my
copy. If I find a replacement then I'll digitise and insert.
A BABY AND A BUNGALOW
Our quiet life was about to change. Two things happened. Margaret became pregnant and our baby was expected at the beginning of December. (This was a great joy to us as Margaret had had a miscarriage the first year we were married.) The second thing was that the Bank transferred me from Somerton to Taunton.
I began looking for somewhere to live in the Taunton area. We decided to buy, rather than rent, now that we were starting a family. The Bank would only lend us four times my salary and this meant we were looking at houses within the range of 1,000 to 2,000 pounds. We were despairing of finding anything suitable when the Manager asked a local builder if he had anything.
And so we bought a semi-detached bungalow in Ruishton, which was in the process of being built, for just over 2,000 pounds. I would drive there after work on my way home to Somerton to check its progress, hoping that we would be able to move in before our baby was born.
However, both the baby and the building work were late. Stephen Mark [EDITOR: That's me!] was born on December 13th and the bungalow wasn't ready for occupation until the following March.
Margaret stayed in Butleigh Hospital for 10 days and came home on Christmas Eve. I had scarcely seen my son since birth, as it was the hospital policy to keep the babies in the nursery, but from now on he filled every waking hour. He seemed to cry all night and I went to work haggard and exhausted. Neither of us knew what to do with a new baby but we muddled through somehow and loved our little boy dearly.
Eventually our new bungalow was ready and the Removal Van came to
Somerton to take our possessions to Ruishton. Margaret and baby
Steve, in his carry cot, travelled with the men in the front of
the van and I followed with a car load of possessions.
What a joy to have our own home at last in country surroundings. The River Tone flowed in the field behind our garden and we loved walking beside it. The builders forbore to tell us that they had built our bungalows on a flood plain. We discovered this later when the river overflowed, came up our road and crept across our gardens...
We had to make a garden out of a piece of rough field and we both worked hard until we had lawns and flower beds newly sown with packets of seeds. (Only 3 pence each in those days.)
Most of the bungalows were bought by young couples, all of whom were starting families. So many of the women were pregnant at the same time that the locals nicknamed Overlands 'Stork Lane'.
A DAUGHTER
Petronella was born in May 1963 and Stephen, only 17 months old himself, was thrilled to have a baby to play with, They soon became the very best of friends. I felt I was wasting the best of each day at the Bank and looked forward to the evenings when I could be with my family. I loved to join them in their bedroom when they were sitting up in their beds, looking at their scrapbooks before going to sleep.
We were on good terms with most of the neighbours and occasionally had some round for a game of cards. Also David or his brother, Roger, and Julian would come over for a game of thirteens.
We had a few social occasions at the Bank. Once a year there would be a dinner dance, sometimes with entertainment, and I played cricket with them in the evenings. I played snooker, table tennis and sometimes skittles. These I did not mind, but Lloyds Bank management were always wanting me to go on courses in Hindhead. Several times I managed to develop a rash in time to prevent me going there.
The children had plenty of local friends and it was safe enough for them to play in the road on their bicycles as it was a cul de sac. They had a swing in the garden and there was also a childrens' playground in one of the fields behind us.
They both went to Ruishton School, fifty children taught by two teachers. I came home to lunch each day so collected them on my way past.
We visited my parents at Ashcott most weekends and occasionally went to stay in Bristol with my parents in law for the weekend. We all loved going there for Christmas.
HOLIDAYS
We had a new neighbour in the other half of our semidetached bungalow: Aunt Emmie, the old lady with whom we had stayed with in Beer before our marriage, She was old now and needed a lot of help. Unfortunately for me, she brought her small dog which seemed to bark incessantly.
We decided we could afford a seaside holiday and booked a chalet at Portreath for a week for 8 pounds. It had seemed ideal from the brochure, overlooking the sea. We had not noticed that there was no bathroom and no running water...
However, the holiday was a great success and thereafter we went away for a week every year, always self-catering in Devon or Cornwall. The children came gamely on our cliff walks, Stephen carrying his squirrel and yellow blanket, and Petra her pink blanket, but of course they loved playing on the sand and paddling in the sea and rock pools best.
Eventually I found it too much of a rush to come home to lunch and be back at work within the hour so I stayed in Taunton. Sometimes I would go to watch the County Cricket in my lunch hour and sometimes I would take my sandwiches to Vivary Park.
Aunt Emmie died and once again we had new neighbours. They did not have a dog but they were incredibly noisy, playing their television and music on a high volume all the time.
It made me very stressed and I knew that it was time to move. We were in any case rather cramped with two growing children and only five rooms.
The final deciding factor was that a motorway [EDITOR: this was the M5] was to be built very close to Ruishton. I wanted to be elsewhere to avoid future noise and complicated road systems so near home.
BUILDING RAINBOW END
We began hunting for a detached property in the Taunton area but found nothing suitable. Then we heard that West of England Homes were to build nine new houses in a field in Bishops Lydeard. We had decided that we didn't want to live on an estate again but nine houses in a row didn't seem too crowded. We went to see the site and when we saw fields, an apple orchard, and wonderful views of the hills in every direction we knew that it was what we were looking for.
There were only two four-bedroomed houses and I managed to persuade the Bank to lend me the money to buy one. We then watched the building of the house we were to call Rainbow End step by step. It seemed a long time from November to March but finally moving day came.
It was May 8th, Petra's birthday. (We had celebrated the latter a day early, knowing that we would be too busy to think of it on the day itself.) We had planned everything carefully so couldn't see how anything could go wrong.
The first thing that happened was the Co-op, our removal firm, phoned to say that there had been a delay in the job before so they would prefer not to come that day after all. Could they come tomorrow instead? I said that they must come, however late, so we waited and waited.
The van arrived and it was obvious that the overworked men were not in a good temper. They loaded the van in pouring rain and were not too pleased to discover that our new house was at the end of an unmade road with muddy ruts everywhere. Margaret had promised them a cup of tea but couldn't find the kettle or teapot amongst all the chaos, so they had to manage without. This made them determined to finish the job, however carelessly, and they crashed into the newly-painted walls with the furniture, brought mud onto our new carpets and were far from helpful.
We were glad when they had departed, even though we had by now discovered that we had been given a faulty immersion heater so we had no hot water. When we finally went to sit wearily on our bed at the end of the day, it collapsed under us � the men had not put it together properly!
However, we were finally installed in our beautiful new home and we were happy. It rained for the next six weeks so it was difficult to make a start on the garden. Stephen was prepared to do some digging, if I paid him, and Petra and Margaret worked hard preparing the ground for a lawn. They did a few yards a day, carrying endless buckets of soil to make it level.
We had already met our new neighbours, Roger and Dawn, as Roger had visited us in Ruishton and asked if we would be prepared to contribute towards a six-foot fence between our back gardens. Like us, they valued their privacy.
We did not get our post at first as, not only had the road not been made, a name had not been chosen for it. The only address we could give people was Plot 8, Sully's Farm.
SCHOOLING
The children had one year at the Primary School in the village.
We were told that Stephen was public school material and it was suggested he should apply for a scholarship to both Queens College and Taunton School. He duly took these and was called to interview at both schools. Queens College was the lucky school to get our son!
We wanted Petra to go to St Joseph's Convent but the headmistress said that there was no room with the children of her age. Unless she was exceptionally clever and could go into the year above her age, they could not help. When we showed her all Petra's reports, top in every subject, she was accepted straight away.
She settled in very happily and joined the school production of Oliver as an orphan. The singing was brilliant.
The years passed quickly with the children growing up and an annual week at the sea. I did not like the thought of being away from home but once we had arrived I revelled in being on top of the cliffs with the sea far below and we had many wonderful walks.
BLIZZARD!
One winter we've never forgotten was in 1978. A blizzard started one night with the wind blowing snow almost horizontally for hours and hours. By morning all the views we knew had disappeared. The snow had formed into drifts six feet or more high and hedges, fences and gates had more or less disappeared. Glanfield Close itself was impassible and of course the whole village was cut off. Nobody could go anywhere but soon neighbours were out with their spades, digging a channel through the centre of the snow tunnel which used to be a road. I was not well but Stephen went to join in and eventually people had cut a narrow passage to the main road through the village. People were going to the shop using toboggans to carry their goods. Margaret and the children went and were amazed to find lots of empty shelves. No one knew when supplies would get through again so people were stocking up on essentials.
DISEASED LUNGS
My illness became worse, my lungs weren't working properly and the doctors wondered if I had legionaire's disease. (This could be caused by office heating/air cooling systems not being cleaned properly.) When the Bank heard this and knew they were to be inspected, they hastily cleaned it out properly the day before I was sent to hospital in Bristol but they did not really reach any definite conclusion. I came home again and all I could do was to sit in a chair all day feeling very weak.
All the Carmelites were praying hard for me, of course, and very gradually I started feeling better and eventually made a full recovery.
UNIVERSITY
Stephen and Petra had become young adults by now, both getting excellent A-level results before leaving school. They each went to University: Petra to Lancaster and Stephen to Jesus College, Oxford. The house was very quiet without them. We missed them very much and worried when we didn't hear from them.
We tried to use our "freedom" positively. We made a trip up north, visiting Aunt Joan and family in Wellingborough, then Marie at Wood Hall, then Bridget at Thorganby. Aunt Joan was my mother's sister and shared my love of classical music. (She always phoned me after a concert on the television so we could discuss the performance.) All her children were musical too and during our time there played the piano and other musical instruments for me. We loved the setting of the Carmel at Wood Hall and were glad that Marie was living surrounded by the beautiful countryside that meant so much to her. Bridget gave us a great welcome, as usual, and we enjoyed staying in such a peaceful place.
We also stayed in Oxford and Lancaster and went on to the Lake District twice. We wouldn't have discovered its beauty if we hadn't been drawn up north to see Petra on the way.
PARIS
I surprised Margaret in 1980 by suggesting a trip to Paris, the
complete opposite to our usual peaceful locations. We went by
train and hovercraft and stayed in a two-star hotel near the Gare
du Nord. We explored Paris mainly on foot although we had a river
trip along the Seine. One of the highlights of our visit was
listening to the organ playing in Notre Dame and going to Mass
there � though we got separated and thought we'd never find each
other again.
I loved the Hotel des Invalides with all its war momentos and could have spent several days there. We went to Versailles and were deeply disappointed: the fountains weren't playing and there was no grass and few flowers. We missed green growing things. The only grass seemed to be beside the Eiffel Tower and Margaret was told off for walking on that. We couldn't spend much time in Montmartre as an artist had sketched Margaret and was demanding payment and the latter disliked the portrayal!
Each evening we went out for a meal and I enjoyed a carafe of wine to myself. I always woke up feeling rather sick but explained to Margaret that this was metro sickness .
Paris was an experience and we were glad that we went but it wasn't really our scene and we have never wished to return.
FAREWELL TO LLOYDS BANK
1981 saw an even bigger change in our lives. The Tax Department of Lloyds Bank which had been formed in 1966 was to close. I was offered the choice of being transferred to Manchester or Liverpool or accepting redundancy. This news was shattering to me and it took time to plan my new future.
I would accept the redundancy payment, of course, but it wasn't much and I would not be able to get my pension for several years. I decided to set up my own business at home, doing tax privately for a few customers.
It felt very strange the day I left Lloyds Bank for good. I worried about whether I should be able to make a living but it was wonderful to be in my own home in the day-time and to be free to go for a walk or do gardening.
I did get twenty three customers, most of them old ladies whose tax I had done at the Bank and did not want to leave me, and I soon got into a routine. I would work in the morning and go into the garden in the afternoons.
Margaret had maintained the garden well all these years but there wasn't enough colour for me so I set about transforming it with extra flower beds and tubs everywhere. All these years later I'm still working on it and it gets better all the time � and more labour intensive. But my garden is a great joy to me and I'm miserable if it's raining and I can't go out.
There is so much more I could write but perhaps I will never find
the time. All you need to know is that my greatest joy continues
to be found in my children and grandchildren. I have been greatly
blessed and thank God for you all.