25 January 1919 - 2 November 2011
Today would have
been my Nan's birthday. She would have been 93 today. Sadly she passed away
suddenly last November. Her funeral was held at the Bury St Edmunds Crematorium
and we hope to have her ashes added to my Grandfather's grave back in Loughton
Essex sometime in the Spring this year - her final wish.
Elsie was the
grand-daughter of the formidable Ruth Orchard (nee Slaughter) and the daughter
of the lovely Emily Goudge (nee Orchard). She was one of four children - older
sister Emily and younger siblings Georgina (Jean) and Thomas (known as Ron!).
She married Ernest Charles Eden in 1938 and they had 5 children Brian, Ronald,
Anthony, Jeffrey and Georgina. She had 8 Grandchildren (I am one of them),
16 Great-Grandchildren and 8 Great-Great-Grandchildren.
Sadly her beloved
Ernest died in 1960 when their youngest child Gina was only a few months old.
She carried on raising a family alone. A family that included both a baby
daughter and young son to grown up sons who made her a grandmother the
following year. (The age gap between the eldest child and the youngest was a
staggering 20 years!). Many years later she married her second husband Sidney
Robins. Elsie, Sid and her daughter and eldest son moved to Suffolk. A few
years later Sid passed away. Elsie never remarried and spent the rest of her
life looking after her eldest son Brian.
Elsie was a formidable woman, who did not suffer fools. She was as
tough as old boots and you always knew what she thought of you! She didn't
always show her feelings easily - not many of our Edens do - but she loved her
family fiercely. Her boys were her world and when her daughter passed away in
2003 she was devastated.
In her younger days she was a keen swimmer,
winning various badges and awards including one for life-saving, and of course
where she met my granddad Ernest. She loved a party and had a great sense of
humour. She had a real joy for life and a mischievous sparkle in her eyes!
Before her eye sight began to fail she loved to read and she loved knitting.
She also couldn’t resist a wordsearch or puzzle book. However one of her
biggest passions was bingo. She suffered with bad knees (an aliment she passed
on to nearly all her sons) but miraculously her knees would be cured when a
Bingo Hall was insight and then she would be off like a rocket and no-one could
keep up with her!
I hope wherever she is now she is in a bingo
hall where she always wins!!
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