Delia died in Lewisham hospital at 4:01am on Monday, November 27th. She had a hip operation which went well, but lots of complications set in, heart and chest problems and finally bronchial pneumonia.
It was a sad shock for the families. We all thought Delia would go on forever. We had seen her very ill before, but she always beat it. Mary and I were there the night before. Mary did her hair and she talked about Tom and Maureen being in to see her. She was to see somebody on Monday about arrangements for coming home.
Delia didn't have a very great self esteem. She would never believe how much she meant in our lives and how much we shall all miss her. Christmas won't be the same without her. She always spent Christmas here, and the last couple of years we all spent the day together at Patrick's house. I think there were 23 of us last year. It's a shame that the little ones only remember her as she was in late years. They'd never believe the fun she was when she was young. A party or a dance was not complete unless Delia was there. Once we were at a dance miles from home, somebody had an old jalopy and about eight of us packed in. We weren't worried about road safety. When the dance was over in the small hours, we all set off in the pitch dark, and the lights failed, we held a torch and Delia was next to a window, so she had to hold the torch out the window for about four miles. It was great to be young. We used to go to Mary's and Sean's and play cards for pennies. The rows Delia and Sean had over the cards, Myles enjoyed it more than the game. Well, they are all together up there now.
Delia lived in a block of flats, which were mostly for old people. Most of the people were on benefits and it did rile Delia to have to pay full rent and council tax on top of all her other bills. I offered her the dubious consolation of not having to go cap in hand to anyone. Delia worked at Orpington hospital for about twenty years. She looked after the doctors and they thought the world of her. She went to the Greek Islands on holiday with one doctor and family, who later went to live in America, she still had cards and presents from them and when they came back to London on visits, they always visited her.
Delia touched many people's lives. Thank God she has seen all our families grow up and bring up families of their own and she has helped along the way. She made many friends. She was an institution in her own right. May God bless her.
It's been a bad week. On the Monday morning the hospital phoned Mary Dallison, who then went to pick her mother up. I was just coming downstairs at 7:30 when they called here for me to go to see Delia at the hospital. It was a terrible moment. We hadn't heard anything. We would have spent the night with her. John was with her when we got there. We sat with her for about an hour. Her once busy gifted hands were still, as was her loving heart. I didn't realise that she had such small hands for all the tasks that life had in store for her. Mary and Anne took the day off and after dropping the children at school they went in to sit with Delia for a while, they are very upset. Mary has been making arrangements all week, also Mary Dallison. Anne will have to take time off next week. Delia has been abroad to more places than any of us. But they were all pilgrimages. Fatima, Lourdes, you name it, she was there. Michael once said to her, "why don't you ever go on a nice holiday, Auntie Delia?" Well, the Greek Islands was a nice holiday.
When all of this is over, it will be strange not hearing Delia's voice on the phone, not going down to the flat. Sometimes we had arguments and she'd say, "if you only come down to annoy me, why don't you stay at home?" and I'd say, "that's a nice welcome". Then we'd have some tea. I'll miss her.
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