Dr Margaret Gardiner’s three sons remember their mother as a person who wherever she went always left people feeling better. And they knew that was the way she wanted to say goodbye when she lost her 16 year battle with breast cancer last Friday.
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So when more than 350 people attended a memorial service at the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Rose Bay on Thursday that is exactly what happened. Laughter and applause were features of Dr Gardiner’s farewell as Dominic, Edward and Gerald shared memories.
Dominic said: “we are doing what mum would like us to do. It is time to drink espresso, enjoy good food and share our memories of mum. She was many things to many different people..and to some she was just that crazy woman in a pink tutu.”
He said she recently bought all the nurses in hospital a special hand cream to say thank you for looking after her. “It is this kindness and love that mum showed us that should not make us sad today..but strive to give a little more love to those around us”.
Edward said his mother would have wanted everyone to laugh together. He recalled how much seeing anyone wearing a pink ribbon made her feel like there were people supporting her and others with breast cancer. He said his mother was always keen to raise funds for research and that donations could be made to the National Breast Cancer Foundation in her memory at https://give.everydayhero.com/au/drmargaretgardiner.
“Mum had the skill to make other people feel comfortable, special and included. She made them feel like the most important person in the world at that moment. But you also made her life just that little bit brighter”.
Gerald said his bright and bubbly mother always made people smile.
“I think that is what she would have wanted today. For people to smile at the type of person she was. I will try and be as generous, as loving and as happy as you. We have looked up to you our whole lives and nothing will stop us. We will always try and follow your example. Thanks to you we have been given the best possible opportunity to follow our dreams and make you proud. I love you to the moon and back,” he said.
Dr Gardiner’s brother Bruce Gardiner also spoke. Cancer Council’s Grant Plecas was emcee and Molly Hill and great niece Bridgid Faure read poems.
Relates story:
Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
