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 Eulogy for Olive Flemming by Rev. Christopher Allen--1997

Olive Flemming was born on July 24, 1908 into the Unsworth Family and married Wilfred in 1939. There were three children, Peter, William and David. William died in infancy. Olive became ill and in the last few years of her life was cared for by Wilfred until she died on March 6, 1997. At her funeral service, the Reverend Christopher Allen delivered this eulogy:

"Today we come to say farewell to Olive Flemming. Such were her qualities that both her family and the Parish experience a deep grief and so find unity in the shared act of tribute and thanksgiving. Olive has died in old age, having suffered from a number of health problems recently. Nevertheless, her death has come unexpectedly. When someone dies who is close to us, death always comes as a shock and somehow not when or how we imagined it would. And so, as we say farewell to Olive within the context of worship and prayer, we ask God to help us say farewell to one of his servants. And it is fitting that we meet here in this church where Olive and Wilf have worshipped together for so many years and where Olive herself led services and from where she went out to care for people in the community.

Olive grew up in Ince, near Wigan, in Lancashire and received a traditional Lancashire Christian upbringing. She went to Hindley and Abram Grammar School and was in the Guides, and school hockey team. A conversion experience in her early twenties completed and deepened her early Christian formation and it came at a time when she was already engaged in intense personal ministry.

Amongst these activities, was a Sunday School run in the front room, or parlour of one of the houses in a slum area of her Parish. The canaries around the room joined in the hymns and the children sat all over the floor or on the table. This was for children who had not the clothes or shoes to decently attend the regular Sunday School. Typically, she was moved to action to ensure that poverty or disadvantage did not exclude anyone from hearing of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Professionally, Olive was a teacher, and a gifted one at that. This was to be a lifelong career. Singing, speech training and English were amongst her subjects. Her final appointment was at the Newark Girls school here in Leicester, having lived and worked previously with Wilf and the family in Wales, Huddersfield and Mansfield--and indeed, having remained in England whilst Wilf worked in West Africa for a while.

Many of the gifts which made her such a skilled teacher were also those which, through her ministry as a Reader, she was able to exercise for the benefit of the church. As a Reader, she took services here and at other churches in the city and county. She was known for her gentle peaceful way of leading services. For many years, she got everything ready for the Thursday morning Eucharist here and read and assisted during the services.

Her qualities were valued in the very many organizations and groups to which she belonged. She was chairman of the Friendship and Service Guild, one-time chairman of the University Wives Club, and in this Parish, a member of the Mother’s Union.

Olive was both a kind and also an intelligent person - a combination that is all too rare. How sad, therefore, that she should be afflicted with a complaint that meant that her grasp of people and events slowly but surely weakened as the years passed. And yet, she remained in many ways, the same Olive, gentle, peaceful, accepting. with never a complaint. She used to go into respite care for a few weeks where she remained, as always, calm and self assured. Finally, last week, she died peacefully at home.

So we meet to support those that were closest to her. Wilf, you say farewell to your life’s partner - someone you loved and admired, someone who has been a source of hope and inspiration to you over very many years. You have lovingly cared for her in recent years in a way that has been an example to us all. Now you lay down that task of care and let Olive go into the care of her Heavenly Father.

Her two sons, Peter and David say farewell to their mother. To lose a mother is to lose a link with one’s earliest experiences of love and intimacy. A sign of what it means to be a spouse, a parent, a human being. Others say farewell to a grandmother, mother-in-law, sister and aunt. For in saying farewell to Olive, we are saying farewell to a sign, both of time, humanity and also of Christian life, work and faith.

       Olive had a warm and deep humanity, revealed in her love for, and interest in children. Her hospitality, gracious smile and humanity were not in opposition to, but rather enhanced and strengthened her Christian faith. And so, in Olive, in her combination of full humanity and deep Christian faith, we have seen a sign of Christ himself, perfectly divine, yet perfectly human; himself the embodiment of true humanity. Being a Christian does not make us less human, but more.

So Olive has been a sign to us of the fact that it is possible to be both good and human--and that is a definition of what it is like to be a Saint, one of the Holy ones of God. This is because Olive had learned and lived by the truth that salvation is not a matter of our achieving, but is given to you and to me, just as I am."