A Eulogy for Gillian Hart, 1938-2021
by Suzanne MacRae
Gillian was born in 1938, to Peggy and Roland Heath in Harrow, and lived there with her brother Robert. Roland (or grandpa to me) was a very creative man, an artist and musician. He encouraged mum in all things artistic, such as music, art and acting. I chose a piece from Chopin as the entry music today, as she loved piano music like this, as she said there was always a piano being played in the background in her house growing up. Mum was a member of various choirs, and of the National Children’s Theatre, and was very proud of the glowing review she recieved from the Harrow Observer when she played ‘Alice’ in Alice in Wonderland, which we still have.
As she grew up, she was always beautifully dressed on a low budget, thanks to my nan’s expert dressmaking skills and mum’s good taste. She would get pictures from American magazines and my nan would make up clothes for her without any pattern, including her wedding dress. There are some amazing old photos of mum, just naturally looking like a film star – no wonder she caught dad’s eye! Mum’s natural ability to know what looked good was very evident in the beautiful homes she later created, and she was very much the driving force behind the wonderful gardens they made together throughout their lives.
As her daughter, my strongest memories of mum growing up are as follows:
She had a lovely singing voice, and I have memories of mum singing weird and wonderful songs, such as ‘There are Fairies at the Bottom of Our Garden’ and ‘Open the Door Richard’! She also loved to dance when she was younger. And when she was older – given the opportunity, she would love to dance around to songs like ‘Rocking All Over the World’ by Status Quo!
She was a terrible cook! This became a source of amusement at home. I remember often seeing black sausages smoking on the back door-step after they had been set on fire! We would say she reminded us of the character Wendy Craig played in the comedy ‘Butterflies’. She had that same ethereal quality, which sometimes meant the more mundane things in life, like cooking, seemed more of a challenge to her.
She had an excellent sense of humour. I think that’s something that Steve and I have both inherited from her. It was a silly sense of humour, and she loved any silly comedies, like Pete & Dud, Tony Hancock and the Goons, and the thing I remember her laughing at the most was Frank Spencer in ‘Some Mothers Do Ave Em’.
As a mother, and later grandmother, she was patient, kind and thoughtful. She would always make sure there were interesting new toys at their house to keep our children amused, and was happy to sit and spend hours playing with them with sensory things, like water features, pebbles, and beads. To our family mum was known as ‘nanny sheep’, as she loved sheep for the way they looked and behaved.
I’m sure mum’s friends would describe her as a loyal, caring and faithful friend. A good listener, always putting others first and deeply caring. She was loyal to her closest friends, Jackie Simmons, and Ann, and later Margaret, Crook. I have many happy memories of our families being together.
From the lovely messages I have received since mum has gone, she is always described as someone who was welcoming, kind and generous to all who needed help. She had a gentle spirit, but was certainly not a push-over, as dad would like to tell us, calling mum ‘the boss’! She was completely selfless, and had the epitome of a ‘servant heart’, which is something for us all to aspire to.
Mum’s faith was everything to her and the strength of her life. She loved helping run the Sunday School at her church in Harrow. She had great respect for Billy Graham, who had a big impact on her life. She made a quiet but large contribution to each church that she was a member of, in Harrow, Shepperton, Esher, Guildford, and more recently in Leamington and Kenilworth. She loved her job at Crusade for World Revival, and went on to help many people as a Bereavement Counsellor for Cruse, where she could use her wonderful listening skills and caring nature. She was a prayer warrior, and prayed tirelessly for her family, friends and the world. I know she has prayed for her family every day for all our lives, and I am so grateful for this blessing and protection, which I will miss terribly.
She had full assurance of where she was going after this life, and was fully prepared for that final journey to Glory. I know that God will have said to her on arrival upstairs – ‘Well done, Good and Faithful Servant’, which is truly what she was.