SUSIESUE's David has Died
- Thread starter Helen33
- Start date
Sue afraid I have no words, but wanted you to know, I have thought of you all today and send my love.Pam
I also have thought of you so much today, especially at 1.00 when I sat quietly with my David.
Love
Love
Dear Sue, I was so very sorry to reaad of your loss.
Words always seem inadequate at these times so I will just keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Sincere condolences to you and the family.
Words always seem inadequate at these times so I will just keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Sincere condolences to you and the family.
Susie Sue is my mum..
Firstly I wanted to thank you all personally for the wonderful support that you have given my mum over the past year or so.
Mum is always telling me about the wonderful messages that she gets and the support and guidance that all her friends here have given her.
It was actually me that put her on to this originally and I am so pleased that I did.
Tonight I am going to read the pages(!) and pages of messages that people have sent.
I thought it would be nice for me to put a little something about dad. The easiest way for me to do that is for me to paste below what I said at the funeral yesterday:
Before I sign off, I did want to say one last thing. Mum has been so strong during this time both for me and for dad. Dad was a great big softy and relied on mum for so much not just when he was ill but also when he was well! She was truely his right hand man!
Mum and I are very close indeed and I, my wife Mandy and our kids are truely blessed to have such a close and loving relationship with her(and dad when he was here). This will not change now dads gone. The only difference will be that she will call me twenty times a day rather than the normal ten times
Joking apart, she is a great mum, a fantastic nana and I am sorry I wrote in my school journal when i was about 10 that "daddy is a softy and mummy is a menace". The teachers posted this on the wall at open evening...!
Dad
Standing here making a speech does make me laugh. For those of you that ever came to a simkhe when dad had to make a speech will realise why we always used to fast forward his bit when we watched it back on the video. I was watching a video of dads 50th birthday last night and on arriving at his surprise birthday party there are calls of ‘speech speech’ these were very quickly followed by “No No!!”
The irony was that dads hobby and one goal in life, was to talk
Dad was born to talk. I know from friends whose mortgages he organised, that they would have to put aside the entire evening for a quick one hour meeting, because dad loved to yap so much
The odd thing was that if questioned, most people actually had no idea of what he was talking about. I distinctly remember when Mandy used to come to the house for dinner. If she was sat next to dad, the slightly glazed and confused look I would get from her is testament to dad’s ability to talk complete **** for an extended period of time.
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Dad would be so annoyed that he wasn’t here in person today. All these people!
As most of you would know he loved nothing better than socialising and chatting, whether he knew someone or not. The number of times that we would go out for a meal and end up having a conversation with a bunch of complete strangers I have lost count of. Or we would be walking down the street, have a 15 minute chat with someone, Id say who was that, and he would say, I have no idea!
He would have been in his element catching up with all his friends and would have been so touched to see how many people cared about him. They say the sun shines on the righteous and I think that’s true today.
It is not difficult to see why so many people are here loved him and why so many have sent personal messages of condolence to the family. My dad was such a well-loved man; many have described him as the gentle giant. He did not have a bad bone in his body. The long running joke at home was that he would not even kill a spider.
There are people here today who have known dad longer than I have. People from the Alpana Gold and Just Amazing days as well as those from the Allied Dunbar and Zurich times. I have never met anyone who has a bad word to say about him.
Mum has put in the JC announcement that it was a privilege to know him and I think that sums up everyone’s experience of dad. Anyone who met him as a friend or through work remembers his soft nature, his desire to help and most of all his totally sincere and warm nature.
This is the bit where I cry
A father and his son have a very special relationship. I know it sounds cliché but Dad was and is still my hero, a tall strong man who was so gentle, caring and loving. He was tough and, as far as I could tell, was not scared of anyone. He was a hard worker whose family came first (unless he had an appointment!)and most important of all, he would somehow, always manage to get us onto the Aston Martin stand at the Motor show where he would convince me and the sales guy that we were going to buy one there and then.
I suppose some of my fondest memories of dad are when he would take a day off work to take me out for the day. This would consist of driving around all the main luxury car dealers and blagging a test drive. This would always be followed by a McDonalds and always an Apple Pie, which he would dribble down his tie whilst doing a three point turn
I’m painting a rosy picture here.
I didn’t think he was so great as a teenager going shopping with him. Adam and I used to be so incredibly embarrassed that he used to make us stop us at the underwear section of Dorothy Perkins to open up the packets of knickers so he could check how many stiches the gussets had.
My grandfather used to say that dad had this amazing ability to fall in the dit and always coming up smelling of roses.
There are so many funny stories and I will recount just a few here.
There was the time that dad got stopped for drink driving. The policemen asked him step out the car and asked if he had been drinking, dad, said of course he had and in fact he had had quite a few. They said how long ago? He said, well I’ve only just finished. They then proceeded to do a breathalyser test which registered no alcohol in his system. It was at this point that dad said to the policemen
“You should have asked me WHAT I was drinking, it was tea!” He then proceeded to lecture the poor officer about how you should ask the right questions
Or the time that dad had a burn up with a car at the traffic lights, only to look over and see it was a police car…
Cars feature quite a lot in dad’s history but my personal favourite was when business wasn’t great and he had had to downgrade to an old Nisan Sunny 1.4. He comes in and asks for the tippex. The next thing I know, we are on the driveway tippexing out the point in 1.4. My dad had the only 14 litre Nissan Sunny in the world…
Any of you who had kids that got introduced to dad would have been fortunate (or not) to experience the amazing David Claret Body Circus. Oh how mum used to look on with admiration as dad squeaked, squelched, popped and whistled much to all my friends delight!
I won’t go on, as I imagine you all have funny little stories about dad and hopefully we can all share these over the coming weeks as a way of remembering a good man.
Unfortunately a just under five years ago, just when mum and dad should have been enjoying their retirement dad was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s. Ironically mum knew that something was up when dad started suggesting that they leave the office earlier and earlier. Anyone that new him will know that this was simply not normal!
The condition slowly but surely killed off each and every one of dads favourite things. First to go was the ability to talk (this however did not stop him from trying for at least a further two years much to everyone’s embarrassment!).
More recently was his ability to walk and then, in the last few days his ability to eat and swallow. To say that my dad loved his food was understatement. Nothing would give him more pleasure than a good curry, or finishing off the grandkids half-finished ice-cream. He is going to be really annoyed he is not going be about to have a nosh today.
One thing I would say is that even though virtually every faculty was taken away from him, up until virtually the last week of his life, if he was able, he would give you such a smile, even if it was with just his eyes.
All his careers at the home, who were amazing, would always comment on what a handsome man he was and when he was more coherent what a lovely lovely man he was. Even with his condition he continued to have the ‘David effect’ on everyone that he met be it the careers or the residents in his new home. I’m convinced that had his speech not gone he would have had most of them signed up for a life policy.
I have been looking at lots of quotes, Yiddish proverbs and texts to be able to summarise my dad. All of them are surpassed by one single word
My dad was a true Mensch.
Firstly I wanted to thank you all personally for the wonderful support that you have given my mum over the past year or so.
Mum is always telling me about the wonderful messages that she gets and the support and guidance that all her friends here have given her.
It was actually me that put her on to this originally and I am so pleased that I did.
Tonight I am going to read the pages(!) and pages of messages that people have sent.
I thought it would be nice for me to put a little something about dad. The easiest way for me to do that is for me to paste below what I said at the funeral yesterday:
Before I sign off, I did want to say one last thing. Mum has been so strong during this time both for me and for dad. Dad was a great big softy and relied on mum for so much not just when he was ill but also when he was well! She was truely his right hand man!
Mum and I are very close indeed and I, my wife Mandy and our kids are truely blessed to have such a close and loving relationship with her(and dad when he was here). This will not change now dads gone. The only difference will be that she will call me twenty times a day rather than the normal ten times
Joking apart, she is a great mum, a fantastic nana and I am sorry I wrote in my school journal when i was about 10 that "daddy is a softy and mummy is a menace". The teachers posted this on the wall at open evening...!
Dad
Standing here making a speech does make me laugh. For those of you that ever came to a simkhe when dad had to make a speech will realise why we always used to fast forward his bit when we watched it back on the video. I was watching a video of dads 50th birthday last night and on arriving at his surprise birthday party there are calls of ‘speech speech’ these were very quickly followed by “No No!!”
The irony was that dads hobby and one goal in life, was to talk
Dad was born to talk. I know from friends whose mortgages he organised, that they would have to put aside the entire evening for a quick one hour meeting, because dad loved to yap so much
The odd thing was that if questioned, most people actually had no idea of what he was talking about. I distinctly remember when Mandy used to come to the house for dinner. If she was sat next to dad, the slightly glazed and confused look I would get from her is testament to dad’s ability to talk complete **** for an extended period of time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dad would be so annoyed that he wasn’t here in person today. All these people!
As most of you would know he loved nothing better than socialising and chatting, whether he knew someone or not. The number of times that we would go out for a meal and end up having a conversation with a bunch of complete strangers I have lost count of. Or we would be walking down the street, have a 15 minute chat with someone, Id say who was that, and he would say, I have no idea!
He would have been in his element catching up with all his friends and would have been so touched to see how many people cared about him. They say the sun shines on the righteous and I think that’s true today.
It is not difficult to see why so many people are here loved him and why so many have sent personal messages of condolence to the family. My dad was such a well-loved man; many have described him as the gentle giant. He did not have a bad bone in his body. The long running joke at home was that he would not even kill a spider.
There are people here today who have known dad longer than I have. People from the Alpana Gold and Just Amazing days as well as those from the Allied Dunbar and Zurich times. I have never met anyone who has a bad word to say about him.
Mum has put in the JC announcement that it was a privilege to know him and I think that sums up everyone’s experience of dad. Anyone who met him as a friend or through work remembers his soft nature, his desire to help and most of all his totally sincere and warm nature.
This is the bit where I cry
A father and his son have a very special relationship. I know it sounds cliché but Dad was and is still my hero, a tall strong man who was so gentle, caring and loving. He was tough and, as far as I could tell, was not scared of anyone. He was a hard worker whose family came first (unless he had an appointment!)and most important of all, he would somehow, always manage to get us onto the Aston Martin stand at the Motor show where he would convince me and the sales guy that we were going to buy one there and then.
I suppose some of my fondest memories of dad are when he would take a day off work to take me out for the day. This would consist of driving around all the main luxury car dealers and blagging a test drive. This would always be followed by a McDonalds and always an Apple Pie, which he would dribble down his tie whilst doing a three point turn
I’m painting a rosy picture here.
I didn’t think he was so great as a teenager going shopping with him. Adam and I used to be so incredibly embarrassed that he used to make us stop us at the underwear section of Dorothy Perkins to open up the packets of knickers so he could check how many stiches the gussets had.
My grandfather used to say that dad had this amazing ability to fall in the dit and always coming up smelling of roses.
There are so many funny stories and I will recount just a few here.
There was the time that dad got stopped for drink driving. The policemen asked him step out the car and asked if he had been drinking, dad, said of course he had and in fact he had had quite a few. They said how long ago? He said, well I’ve only just finished. They then proceeded to do a breathalyser test which registered no alcohol in his system. It was at this point that dad said to the policemen
“You should have asked me WHAT I was drinking, it was tea!” He then proceeded to lecture the poor officer about how you should ask the right questions
Or the time that dad had a burn up with a car at the traffic lights, only to look over and see it was a police car…
Cars feature quite a lot in dad’s history but my personal favourite was when business wasn’t great and he had had to downgrade to an old Nisan Sunny 1.4. He comes in and asks for the tippex. The next thing I know, we are on the driveway tippexing out the point in 1.4. My dad had the only 14 litre Nissan Sunny in the world…
Any of you who had kids that got introduced to dad would have been fortunate (or not) to experience the amazing David Claret Body Circus. Oh how mum used to look on with admiration as dad squeaked, squelched, popped and whistled much to all my friends delight!
I won’t go on, as I imagine you all have funny little stories about dad and hopefully we can all share these over the coming weeks as a way of remembering a good man.
Unfortunately a just under five years ago, just when mum and dad should have been enjoying their retirement dad was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s. Ironically mum knew that something was up when dad started suggesting that they leave the office earlier and earlier. Anyone that new him will know that this was simply not normal!
The condition slowly but surely killed off each and every one of dads favourite things. First to go was the ability to talk (this however did not stop him from trying for at least a further two years much to everyone’s embarrassment!).
More recently was his ability to walk and then, in the last few days his ability to eat and swallow. To say that my dad loved his food was understatement. Nothing would give him more pleasure than a good curry, or finishing off the grandkids half-finished ice-cream. He is going to be really annoyed he is not going be about to have a nosh today.
One thing I would say is that even though virtually every faculty was taken away from him, up until virtually the last week of his life, if he was able, he would give you such a smile, even if it was with just his eyes.
All his careers at the home, who were amazing, would always comment on what a handsome man he was and when he was more coherent what a lovely lovely man he was. Even with his condition he continued to have the ‘David effect’ on everyone that he met be it the careers or the residents in his new home. I’m convinced that had his speech not gone he would have had most of them signed up for a life policy.
I have been looking at lots of quotes, Yiddish proverbs and texts to be able to summarise my dad. All of them are surpassed by one single word
My dad was a true Mensch.
Dear Jamie,
Well I am sitting here with tears in my eyes at your wonderful post. Your mum has just phoned me bursting with pride at her wonderful son. You have been truly blessed by your mum and dad and have been, and still are, a real blessing to them.
Your message to us is so special and I feel proud for your mum that you have done this.
I never met David but I feel like I know him. Your mum always managed to get across to us on TP what a true mensch he was. I very much feel the loss in my own way. I can honestly say that I loved your dad in a strange way because of the connection with my own husband and my connection with your mum.
I'm sure your mum knows that her Talking Point friends will be here for her for as long as it takes.
Please accept my sincere condolences on the loss of your wonderful dad Jamie.
Love
Well I am sitting here with tears in my eyes at your wonderful post. Your mum has just phoned me bursting with pride at her wonderful son. You have been truly blessed by your mum and dad and have been, and still are, a real blessing to them.
Your message to us is so special and I feel proud for your mum that you have done this.
I never met David but I feel like I know him. Your mum always managed to get across to us on TP what a true mensch he was. I very much feel the loss in my own way. I can honestly say that I loved your dad in a strange way because of the connection with my own husband and my connection with your mum.
I'm sure your mum knows that her Talking Point friends will be here for her for as long as it takes.
Please accept my sincere condolences on the loss of your wonderful dad Jamie.
Love
I think TP had better order Kleenex in bulk as I have tears running down my face. What a wonderful send off you gave your much loved Dad. No one could ask for a more heartfelt speech.
You are, indeed, a son to be proud of and I am sure he the proudest of them all.
You are, indeed, a son to be proud of and I am sure he the proudest of them all.
Dear Jamie
Thank you for your message. It's so lovely to read so much about your dad, he sounds a wonderful man.
You and your mum are so lucky to have each other, and I know you'll be a grest comfort to each other. I know he would be so proud of you both.
Thank you for your message. It's so lovely to read so much about your dad, he sounds a wonderful man.
You and your mum are so lucky to have each other, and I know you'll be a grest comfort to each other. I know he would be so proud of you both.
Jamie - I am sure that everyone at your dad's funeral would have smiled as well as cried at your words. They were very moving and shows the quality of your parents parenting.
I wish you, your mum, your brother and your family a long life. Thinking of you.
I wish you, your mum, your brother and your family a long life. Thinking of you.
Sue and Jamie, David would have been so proud of you.
With all that goes on in the world and all the bad news around, it is refreshing to hear of such a loving and supportive family. You have all known such happy and wonderful times together, nothing can ever take those memories away from you.
With all that goes on in the world and all the bad news around, it is refreshing to hear of such a loving and supportive family. You have all known such happy and wonderful times together, nothing can ever take those memories away from you.
Dear Jamie
What a wonderful tribute you have paid to your dad.
Through your mum`s posts we learnt about the poorly David, the David who struggled with this cruel disease.
Now you have posted and shown us a little of the David who was, the social, vibrant, witty David, the husband and father, the friend and colleague.
You have completed the picture Jamie and should be very proud of yourself. I`m sure your parents have always been very proud of you.
You are a Son among sons.
I wish you long life.
What a wonderful tribute you have paid to your dad.
Through your mum`s posts we learnt about the poorly David, the David who struggled with this cruel disease.
Now you have posted and shown us a little of the David who was, the social, vibrant, witty David, the husband and father, the friend and colleague.
You have completed the picture Jamie and should be very proud of yourself. I`m sure your parents have always been very proud of you.
You are a Son among sons.
I wish you long life.
Dear Jamie:
Thank you so much for this.
You have portrayed your Dad in such a wonderful way and your family will be proud of your special tribute to him.
TP will still be here for your Mum and, when she feels up to it, she will continue to benefit others experiencing a similar 'journey'.
Thank you so much for this.
You have portrayed your Dad in such a wonderful way and your family will be proud of your special tribute to him.
TP will still be here for your Mum and, when she feels up to it, she will continue to benefit others experiencing a similar 'journey'.
My mum died nearly 3 months ago and I also can't recall anyone ever having a bad word to say about her.
I wish I could have given a eulogy at her funeral. As it was, I struggled to even get through a short reading. You did your dad proud with what you said.
I had to smile about the story about the Nissan Sunny as I had one myself for nearly 10 years. I never thought about tippexing out the point in the point 4 though!
Take care.
Jamie, you gave form to the larger than life character your father was. I gave the eulogy at my Dad's funeral and know how hard it is to sum up the essence of their character. Thank you for that well rounded picture.
Sue, hope you can now see David as he was, the loving family man, the real David from before the disease distorted so much of your life together.
I think the disease is such a burden to the carer that we struggle to see life in a positive light. Be well and be strong and live life to the full once again.
Sue.
Sue, hope you can now see David as he was, the loving family man, the real David from before the disease distorted so much of your life together.
I think the disease is such a burden to the carer that we struggle to see life in a positive light. Be well and be strong and live life to the full once again.
Sue.
Hello Jamie,
What a lovely tribute to your dad...
Bless you for sharing it with us. And thankyou for initially pointing mum in the direction of TP.
You are a wonderful and caring son and I know that you'll be keeping an eye on Sue for as long as it takes.
We're all still here for her..and for you if you feel the need.
Take care.
My love to you all.
xx
What a lovely tribute to your dad...
Bless you for sharing it with us. And thankyou for initially pointing mum in the direction of TP.
You are a wonderful and caring son and I know that you'll be keeping an eye on Sue for as long as it takes.
We're all still here for her..and for you if you feel the need.
Take care.
My love to you all.
xx
Jamie thank you so much for sharing a bit of your dad with us, I too felt like I knew him, I really wish i had been fortunate enough to have met you all in person. You were a wonderful son to your dad and such a caring loving son to your mum. and know you will be strong for each other now that your gentle special dad is now released from the cruel desease, thank you so much for trusting us enough to share such private wonderful memories of David. love to you all Pam
what a beautiful tribute you made jamie your mum will be so proud of you.thankyou for sharing this with usand letting us no what a wonderful dad you have xxx
