Grace Amelia Doe

"...And thus, without a Wing, Or service of a Keel
Our Summer made her light escape, Into the Beautiful." ~ Emily Dickinson

க-ڿڰۣ க-ڿڰۣ க-ڿڰۣ க-ڿڰۣ க-ڿڰۣ க-ڿڰۣ க-ڿڰۣ க-ڿڰۣ க-ڿڰۣ

"If anybody asks u who I am, Just stand up tall, look 'em in the face and say...I'm that star up in the sky, I'm that mountain peak up high...Hey, I made it, I'm the world's greatest..." ~ R Kelly ... YOU WERE THE GREATEST, NAN. xxxxx

My lovely Nan became one of Heaven's angels on 22 July 2007, aged 91. Born on 11 March 1916 in Southwark, London.

In memory of a fantastic lady - Wife to Frank (who sadly passed away in 1984 - http://francis-doe.gonetoosoon.org), Mum to Leslie and John, Nan to Melanie and Emma. Dearly missed and forever in our hearts. Fly high, beautiful soul.

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♥♥♥ Legacy of Love ♥♥♥

A wife, a mother, a grandma too,
This is the legacy we have from you.
You taught us love and how to fight,
You gave us strength, you gave us might.
A stronger person would be hard to find,
And in your heart, you were always kind.
You fought for us all in one way or another,
Not just as a wife not just as a mother.
For all of us you gave your best,
Now the time has come for you to rest.
So go in peace, you've earned your sleep,
Your love in our hearts, we'll eternally keep.

Author Unknown

♰ ♥ ♰ ♥ ♰ ♥ ♰ ♥ ♰ ♥ ♰ ♥ ♰ ♥ ♰ ♥ ♰

Nan loved her long country walks, gardening and allotment, cooking (oh, how I miss your lovely meals Nan), singing in the local - such great memories never to be forgotten.

She was strong-willed and such a fighter - survived WW2, stomach cancer at 84 years old (an 8 hour operation and had no stomach but still lived another 7 years!), a stroke and tragic deaths of family and friends, but still kept smiling.
This amazing lady was taken from us by cruel events carried out by our very own NHS, how do these doctors and nurses sleep at night?

A wonderful tribute to Nan, Grandad and other family members and family friends can be found on the BBC WW2 Peoples War website at the following links, which my Dad did an amazing job of putting together:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/77/a4457577.shtml A LONDONER'S WAR DIARY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/85/a5962485.shtml WORKING FOR THE WAR EFFORT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/33/a5717333.shtml TOM WILLIAMS GOES TO WAR
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/11/a5723011.shtml VICTORY CELEBRATIONS

(A short excerpt) ...

My name is Grace Doe. I was born Grace Seager in 1916 in Victoria Place, Southwark, South London. It was a little court we lived in there, in Union Street. There were eight houses in our court and a church hall where they had nativity plays every Christmas. We weren't far from the Royal Mail Sorting Office in Orange Street. I went to Orange Street School.

We lived at No. 2 and next door, at No. 1, lived Mrs Mackman and her two daughters, Dolly and Polly. I remember Beatty Mackman especially because it was her and my brother George who took me down the New Kent Road to get my photo done when I was only five.

I remember there was a High Church, All Hallows, in Pepper Street. There were some nuns, a Sister Grace and a Sister Ethel, who lived up one end of the court who used to take us on outings. I was named after Sister Grace and one of my sister's after Sister Ethel. They had two servants called Rose and May.

We were moved out of Victoria Place because of the Thames continually bursting its banks and flooding us out. The water would come lapping into our Court, but Upper Thames Street caught it worse than we did.They moved us out after my mum died just before the war.

Before the war, I used to make cases at a box maker’s. We made boxes for Harrod’s as well and they would be delivered on a handbarrow. You wouldn’t see that today, not in all that traffic! After that, I worked at Simon’s, an Eel and Pie shop, and then I was a lift attendant in offices in High Holborn. Next door to us was the Hacks Cough Sweets factory.

War broke out and I continued in that job for a while. Opposite us was the telephone exchange. We knew whenever there was going to be a raid coming because they would draw their blinds. Being the exchange, they would get the information before anyone else. It was then that I started work at Fortiphone’s.....
(continued at the links above)
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Nan, you certainly had some stories to tell, and one of my favourites was about your Whipping Top and the scooter that you made yourself - you were a "tom-boy" as you said, and very proud of it. There's nothing I wouldn't give to hear you tell those stories one last time. We love you and miss you so much.

*** BELOW, A POEM THAT IS VERY FITTING ***
TO THOSE NURSES AND DOCTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR MY NAN'S LAST FEW DAYS OF "CARE" - SHE WAS A MUM, WIFE AND NAN AND YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO TREAT HER LIKE YOU DID. SHAME ON YOU!!!

♥ An Old Lady's Poem ♥
What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply
When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"
Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe.....
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill....
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your swill.
I'm a small child of ten...with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who I ! love one another.
A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty once more, babies play round my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I've known.
I'm now an old woman...and nature is cruel;
'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living life over again.
I think of the years ....all too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, nurses, open and see, ...
Not a crabby old woman; look closer...see ME!!

--Anonymous

Music on Grace's memorial:

In Apple Blossom Time – Connie Francis
Stranger on the Shore – Acker Bilk
Pretty Amazing Grace – Neil Diamond
Amazing Grace – Irish Celtic Bagpipes
Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton
Time in a Bottle – Jim Croce
In Apple Blossom Time – Vera Lynn
One More Day – Diamond Rio

Video's:

And I Love You So - Perry Como
I Believe - Diamond Rio
If I Could Be Where You Are - Enya
The Prayer - Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli
Holes in the Floor of Heaven - Steve Wariner

Remember the Good - Roy Orbison (Currently not available on You Tube...will continue to look for the video)
When Tomorrow Starts Without Me poem (Removed from You Tube...will try to find it again)
Somewhere - Rhydian (Removed from You Tube...will try to find it again)