A Death in the Family…

I’m afraid my writing has sort of been thrown into hiatus by a quite sudden death in the family. My wife’s sole remaining Grandparent, Mary Parry, passed early on Thursday morning and it has hit the whole family a bit hard. She had a fall a few weeks ago and, it turned out, the fall was a sign of a degenerative motor neurone disease that came on very rapidly. We have been visiting her in hospital for the last month or so, and originally had hopes she’d be quickly out again, but that was not to be.

I won’t be writing for a little while (or updating this blog— although the queued feed from Tumblr will continue for a bit), as we will be busy sorting estates, affairs, properties, and funerals over the next few days. 

Those of you that have read “Ironmaster & Other Tales” may recognise Mary’s name from the acknowledgements, she was always very supportive of my writing (although neither Science-Fiction, nor Steampunk, was her genre — she preferred a Maeve Binchy), and was delighted to see her name in print.

She will be remembered for her many great qualities: her kindness and  generosity of spirit, her friendly gregariousness, her hard-won wisdom, her anecdotes and wit, her sweet tooth (which led to so many excellent cakes), her determination and independence which saw her outlive two husbands, her love of learning, of nature, of animals, and especially of her family, in whom she took such pride. 

She will be forever missed, and I hope that in whatever Afterlife, or Otherworld, she has gone to, she will find someone to tell her stories to and make them laugh, as she did all of us.

In loving memory of Mary Elizabeth Parry (née Grocott, née Jepson), known to so many simply as Grandma, Matron, Matriach and Mentor (1930-2015).