This site is a tribute to Christine, my darling wife of 43 years, who was born in Southport, Lancashire, on 25 February 1946 and who died at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, on 18 January 2015.  She filled our lives with love and wonder....

                                            Requiem

              For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind
                                  And to melt into the sun?
        
                           And what is it to cease breathing
                     But to free the breath from restless tides,
       That it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

                  Only when you drink from the river of silence
                                    Shall you indeed sing.
                    And when you have climbed the mountain,
                               Then you shall begin to climb.

                    And when the Earth shall claim your limbs,
                               Then shall you truly dance.

                          From The Prophet, by Kahil Gilbran.

Read at the funeral by Sue Dowler, a dear friend for more than 60 years, in her tribute to Christine.  


In Memoriam

Remembering Christine is a story of love and tragedy, grief and despair and of hope and recovery. It tells of the 43 year-long love affair that ended with the traumatic death of my wife and which launched the darkest period of our family's life.

It recalls the cause and effect of Christine's passing after a lifetime of compassionate public service, and how I faced the trauma of losing the vivacious lady who had been the centre of my life for more than half of my 83 years.

It recounts her work helping the under-privileged, the lonely elderly and the vulnerable ex-servicemen who all came to love her and who attended her funeral en masse.

It tells of my bereavement counsellor persuading me that the memorial book I was writing for future generations of our family could also bring comfort to others suffering the traumatic grief that follows the sudden death of a loved one.

And so it came to pass that the book also evolved into a study of grief and how to counter it; of how I learned some of the tactical moves in the battle of bereavement and, vitally on a personal level, how my writing led me to find acceptance of Christine's death after months of denial,when I came close to losing the will to live...

If you are suffering the tragic loss of a loved one I'd be happy to e-mail a free copy.

Or it is available as a paperback via Amazon/Books/Remembering Christine/Barry Ward.