Life

A life well lived…

Stuart France

Excerpts from the funeral service held at Watermead Crematorium, Aylesbury…

*

*

Sue Vincent, 14th September 1958 – 29th March 2021

‘We prepare to receive one whose life has been well lived…’

*

Procession entry music: ‘Vincent’, Don Maclean…

*

The best of times, the worst of times…

Sue was born in Yorkshire in 1958, into a family that was about as spiritually eclectic as you can get. The various members were Jewish / Buddhist / Methodist (with High Church for special occasions), with one grandfather who taught her very early about the Qabalistic Tree of Life, the other a Spiritualist minister, and one grandmother a noted psychic, like her mother before her. She attended the Zion Baptist Sunday School with Hindu and Moslem friends…

A better culture for one who was destined to serve as a Priestess of the Western Magical Tradition could hardly be imagined…

*

Sue’s first marriage, it seems, was one of convenience, for her mother.

It didn’t last long, and soon after Sue moved to France to become a Nanny.

Here, Sue describes her second husband, Joel…

“We met in the most romantic circumstances in Corsica… Shooting stars, mimosa, a perfect moon… and the saxophone playing ‘Just the way you are’ as we danced under the stars…

I never expected to see him again. We were both far from home… he a wandering musician, I a nanny in Paris. One of those brief, romantic interludes that sometimes grace a moment in time.

But fate took a hand… we met again, had dinner, talked, and talked. But still, once I had returned to Paris I filed him away as a beautiful memory. But a postcard arrived from Nice.  Then the phone rang… and we met in Paris.

He wrote Le Reveil for me then. It was the first song he had written. No one had ever written a song for me before. I would stay overnight and travel back home in time for breakfast Monday morning. The days were filled with music, lunacy, laughter, and love, la vie Bohème lived in good earnest.

We married a few months later and I moved to Vichy, and eventually into a tiny doll’s house of a place, so small even I could touch the beams in the ceiling…

Our first son, Nick was born the next March. Three years later his brother, Alex, followed, but we were living in England by then… Joel’s music was not understood, he had no work, depression set in, and although… because… I loved him, I sent him back to France.”

*

Raising two small sons alone in 1980’s Britain cannot have been easy…

Sue eventually met Bernard who provided both stability and support for her young family.

Unfortunately, soon after, Bernard contracted bladder cancer, and although he lived on for another ten years with the condition, it was with Sue as his carer.

It was not to be Sue’s only brush with cancer or life as a carer…

*

In 2009 with Sue now a well-paid businesswoman… Fate’s knife twisted again. Her eldest son Nick was randomly attacked in a Bournemouth alleyway and suffered horrendous brain injuries. With the medical authorities calling it murder and against all medical advice, Sue refused to turn off the life support, took Nick home, and became his full-time carer.

It is a testament to both Sue and Nick’s tenacity, strength, resolve, and love for each other, and for life, that Nick is here with us today.

Through Sue’s daily blog chronicling Nick’s recovery, Nick has become as much of an inspiration to people as his mother…

By this time Sue had again taken up her interest in esotericism and was a member of the Magical School, Servants of the Light.

The help of the people at that time involved with running the school, in Nick’s recovery, should also not be overlooked or underestimated…

*

RAVENS

By Sue Vincent

 

As night draws in and silence comes, the door is locked, the curtains drawn

I am alone, the world recedes and sleeps until another dawn.

Yet in the quiet, midnight hour with feathers soft against my skin

Two ravens whisper in my ear, as Thought and Memory begin.

Within the darkness of their wings stir images, both dark and bright,

That dance within the secret heart and quiet hours of the night.

A past replayed, as on a screen, as tears and laughter, broken dreams,

And in their midst a single spark, a star of quiet beauty gleams.

Deep in its central molten core, from what has been the present grows

A seed that reaches to the sun, and borrowing its light it glows

With inner glory, burning bright, with all the mornings yet to be,

The future held within the wings of ravens, Thought and Memory.

*

Music: ‘Susanne’ – Leonard Cohen

*

With the advent of Sue’s involvement with The Silent Eye School of Consciousness, we enter the final phase of her life journey. And what a phase it was. It can perhaps best be described as Blogs, Books and Workshops, and all while still caring for Nick, and her beloved dog Ani, her Aquarium, and the pond, and the garden at Nick’s home… and her youngest son, Alex, and her grandchildren, Hollie and Imogen, both of whom she adored, and who adore her.

Sue was a natural-born carer, of both people and animals…

The fledgling school demanded background reading matter, which was duly provided. As well as Nick’s story on the blog Sue incorporated the burgeoning growth of the school, and started several initiatives to help and encourage Independent writers. Perhaps the most successful of these was the Write-Photo challenge… which is to continue after her passing.

Sue also started cataloguing the thoughts and feelings of Ani, the small dog, which proved immensely popular with dog lovers worldwide and spawned several best-selling books…

*

THE SMALL DOG CONSIDERS…

By Sue Vincent

 

He’s bringing tea and coffee through,

With toast and honey, biscuits too,

To pick her up when she feels drained…

And I thought I had got him trained!

*

I’m sort of glad, though, to be fair,

‘Cause, what with all the missing hair

She’s not the way she used to be…

And prob’bly needs more help than me.

*

She says I do enough all day

By keeping tennis balls in play

And warming feet and guarding doors

…And cleaning chocolate crumbs from floors.

*

It’s not enough, what can you do?

The years we had together flew!

We’d time to learn each other’s ways

Put so much laughter in the days…

*

But soon she’ll cross the rainbow bridge

And I’ll stand quiet by the fridge

And wait there for the final ‘treat’…

And know that love is death’s defeat.

*

Sue’s life was by no means a bed of roses as, hopefully, this brief biography illustrates. It was only through learning from her sometimes difficult and painful life lessons and then generously passing on the benefit of her experiences to others when asked, or needed, that Sue acquired her well-deserved reputation for earthy wisdom…

In one of her thousands of blog posts, Sue wrote, “I am grateful to have lived the life I have been given… all of it… the wonder and the pain, the laughter, tears, and beauty. It is all part of who I am, and who I learn to become. Part of the ongoing story of both my own life and those that twine themselves through mine like roses, sharing the journey and bringing their own richness to the tale.”

Which is, perhaps, a fitting enough epitaph, although I know many who with us would add, “Dear Sue, we are, and forever will be, grateful to have been graced with your presence in our lives. Thank you, for everything, and rest now, love, you have earned it…”

*

Exit music: Theme from, The Hobbit…

 

 

 

Published by Stuart France

Writer and Director of The Silent Eye, a modern Mystery School.

74 thoughts on “A life well lived…”

  1. Pingback: A life well lived… | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo
  2. Pingback: A life well lived… | Stuart France

  6. Thank you, Stuart, for sharing this. It made me shed a few tears for what we’ve lost, but she will live on in the memories of those of us who knew her, either personally, or online. And in her books and school.
    She deserves her rest. RIP, Sue. We miss you.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  8. What a beautiful send off, Stuart, thank you for sharing this with us. I’m in tears reading through it all. Sue was a rare gem of a human, and will be sorely missed by all whose lives she touched. I’ve dedicated my latest blog post to her.

    I wonder if you received the message I sent you last week? As I was local to Sue and we had planned to meet up in a couple of months’ time, I would be grateful if you could let me know where her final resting place is so I can take some flowers and pay my respects?
    Many thanks. Alli.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  10. Thank you, Stuart, for sharing Sue with us, through glimpses of her funeral service and her biography. I’m deeply touched by her lovingness and determination.💗

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  17. I add my thanks to you, Stuart, for sharing this even with us. Tears came again as I thought of Sue’s amazing life and the truly wonderful, creative, loving person she was. Find good places to share her ashes with the earth.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  26. Thanks so much for sharing this, Stuart. I will always consider myself lucky for being one of those who Sue described as ‘Part of the ongoing story of both my own life and those that twine themselves through mine like roses, sharing the journey and bringing their own richness to the tale.” It may have only been a couple of brief times I met her (and you on one occasion), but they will always be times I will never forget.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  27. Thank you so very much for sharing this. what a life Sue had and what a legacy she has left. And now she has been set free and she is everywhere, especially in her two beloved granddaughters. I have no doubt they will pick up where she left off and have exceptional lives of their own. Her spirit lives on.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  28. A beautiful and fitting tribute and these lines from Sue say it all! “I am grateful to have lived the life I have been given… all of it… the wonder and the pain, the laughter, tears, and beauty. It is all part of who I am, and who I learn to become. Part of the ongoing story of both my own life and those that twine themselves through mine like roses, sharing the journey and bringing their own richness to the tale.” Thank you for sharing, Stuart!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  36. Thank you ❤
    Tracey shot that photo of Sue and the Feather at the Rollright Stones when we met her in 2013. ❤ We will really miss her.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  37. Thank you for sharing this service, Stuart, and for continuing to share her writing here. She was a marvelous force in the world. Still trying to wrap my mind around her no longer being here on the earthly plane, but evidence of her existence is all around. ❤

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  39. This is just beautiful. Thank you for sharing. It is amazing how far her reach was, each one of us touched and inspired in our own way. I will always be thankful to Sue, someone whom I had never met, but will miss. My thoughts and best wishes to all her friends and family. KL ❤

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  40. Hello Stuart, thank you for sharing this information about Sue and her life. I did know a lot of it but it is different to read it all together like this. Ups and downs, indeed, but lots of passion and love. The poems are beautiful. I appreciated reading both of them again in the context of this post.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  45. Thank you for sharing this, as another great remembrance, on a fantastic woman, mom and writer. I very much regret that I was no longer able to get to know Sue personally. But she lives on, at least in part, in her books. My deepest condolences to all of the family! With best wishes, Michael

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  50. It’s a testament to all of the comments here how many lives Sue touched with her writing. What greater gift is there than to touch someone with the written word? Thanks so much for sharing and allowing us to know the other parts of Sue’s life.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

We'd love to hear from you...

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.