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1. Eugenie with Jana and I when she visited us in Wales in 2003. She was a great supporter of the new National Botanic Garden of Wales, which open in May 2000 and visited it regularly during its development phase with our mutual friend Ian. She was famous for her dyed hair and it was variously green, blue and red, silver and blue and multicoloured. She loved bright colours.
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2. The funeral car was bedecked in flowers and a cloth with her hero Nelson Mandela and in the ANC colours. Her cardboard coffin was carried in procession form the gate to the Chapel for the service.
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3. Eugenie Hilda Dorothy Cheesmond, aged 88 years, lying in her recyclable, cardboard coffin brightly decorated by family and friends.
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4. Eugenie as a child.
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5. Eugenie towards the end of her life.
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6. A simple message from the family.
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7. A choir of Zimbabwean singers led the congregation out of the Chapel to the accompaniment of drums.
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8. Well-wishers come to pay their respects.
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9. Family gather outside after the service.
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10. Flags flown during the service.
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11. A quiet, sombre, yet colourful exit.
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12. Eugenies's friend Ian, who chauffered her on many great jaunts across Britain, and Jana
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13. A view from Eugenie's chair out to her small front patio garden.
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14. A cake of memory.
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15. One of the many photo collages in her house of Eugenie's many friends and family.
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16. My grandmother Nancy in the foregound, Eugenie's late sister Pamela on the right and someone will have to tell me who is in the other photo (perhaps her mother Dolly?)
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17. Eugenie's house was big, bold and colourful just like herself. It was remarkable that she never locked her door during the day and there was always a steady stream of interesting people to visit her.
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18. Family and friends gather in the kitchen at the 'wake'.
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19. Her friend Betty who did so much for her toward the end and her friend and lodger Alan who played so sensitively at the funeral.
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I must say, my goose bumps in the beginning turned to tears by the end. Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful spirit with us. My life has been enriched just by reading. I love the hand decorated card board casket. Our world needs more Dr. Eugenie Cheesmond's! I'm about to venture out on my first real mountaineering expedition. I will carry in my heart thoughts of her and her wonderful works.
pattyb · 2007-10-20: 10:47
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Emotive tribute to an exceptionnal lady. Thanks for sharing those moments, indeed important in a human life.
miclaud · 2007-10-20: 11:11
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Have no words for such a nice person, I would have like to know her. Thank you for sharing your thinkings-and photos- with us. I will also remember Dr. Eugenie Cheesmond.
iabela · 2007-10-20: 11:34
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Cool! Thanks for sharing!
tarhema · 2007-10-20: 13:23
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A fitting tribute!!
jetjackson · 2007-10-20: 20:29
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A touching testimony. Sounds like some I'd admire.
Cherax · 2007-10-21: 05:13
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what a lovely tribute
magpy · 2007-10-22: 18:24
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This is beautiful, thanks for sharing ....
DancingDolphin · 2007-10-25: 11:48
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Yes - Eugenie was incredibly special. I knew a little of her other interests and passions but mainly knew of her recovery work when she and I worked together at Lifeline in the early 1970s. That was a time when belief in recovery was low and the general view was that the best you could do was contain the whirlwind. Eugenie, a whirlwind in her own right, would have none of it! She was a passionate beliver in the ability of people to turn their lives around. She was a committed supporter of therapeutic community methods (she is one of only three TC pioneers to be included on the EFTC remembrance page - see the link below). She inspired a generation of ex-addicts like me to work in the field to try to make a difference. Thanks Eugenie.
Rowdy Yates · 2007-11-07: 04:51
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Even though Eugenie was basicly my great grandma,i only ever met her once or twice but she inspired me in everything i do and everything i will ever do. Now she's the person im doing my yr7 project on. I'm so pleased to have met her and to have had somthing to do with her. The pictures above are so true of Eugenie,Bright,Bold and careing. thanks Eugeniexxxx
hunsley swimmer · 2008-01-25: 13:05
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thank you so much! loved the decorated cardboard casket too. have heard a lot about the ceremonies but the photos help make it real and so fitting for eugenie!
ruth king / susser · 2008-06-10: 10:22
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Dr. Eugenie Cheesemond was also a visionary drugs activist who founded the Lifeline Project in 1971. I am grateful to Rowdy Yates (Senior Research Fellow, University of Stirling) for drawing my attention to a page of reflections on the European Federation of Therapeutic Communities webpages. null
Sevendipity · 2008-06-11: 07:12
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