Muriel Lightfoot (1926 – 2021)
 
Muriel was proud to be the same age as The Queen, in fact I think she would have made a very good queen!  She valued tradition, had a keen sense of duty, her friends talk of her loyalty, and she certainly liked bossing people around!  Personally I could never tell whether the broad grin she wore when delivering instructions was meant to disarm you, or to indicate that she wasn’t to be taken too seriously!
 
Muriel spent most of her life in Stafford, but she was born in Wallasey and was proud of the family’s roots in Merseyside, telling stories of the ships that would come and go, and Uncle George who was a Commodore in the merchant navy. At the age of 19 the lure of the sea led Muriel to choose the Women’s Royal Naval Service for her national service just as World War II was finishing.  Although she didn’t follow a career in the Navy, in her heart she was a sailor, becoming an active member of the Association of Wrens and in 1970 formed the Stafford branch which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with Muriel as President.
 
Despite a brief stint as a librarian prior to her national service, Muriel chose teaching as a profession. Her career followed something of a military rhythm with tours of duty in Evesham, Cannock, Southampton, Germany and Libya, before finally settling down back in Stafford. She even worked for the Royal Air Force for a couple of years, but hopefully her naval friends forgave her!  Her love of travel was reflected in the subjects she specialised in: Geography and German. She organised many school trips and even made the local paper in 1952 when she took her class on a skiing trip to Austria, very adventurous for a young teacher in those days.
 
Retirement gave Muriel the opportunity to invest more time with her various passions, in particular the Wrens, and the Church. She also had more time for travel, often on cruise ships, and always producing beautifully illustrated accounts of her adventures and potted descriptions of the geography and history of each place visited. 
 
Muriel valued family, keeping in touch with distant relatives and documenting the family tree, and although she never had children of her own, she took to the role of Aunt with typical energy.
 
My earliest memories of Aunt M, were of day trips to Liverpool; catching the train to Lyme Street station, exploring the museum, a Chinese businessman’s lunch, taking the bus down to the docks, the ferry across the Mersey to New Brighton, and egg and cress sandwiches on the train journey home. Those early adventures left a big impression on me and I suspect sparked my own love of travelling. She continued the tradition to the next generation taking her grand-nephew Mike to Liverpool on a visit from his native Germany.  
 
Cousin Anita recalls Muriel taking her as young girl to the centenary celebrations  of  Shakespeare's  birth -  a  huge  event, which included Anita’s first visit  to  a  performance  at  the  Royal  Shakespeare Theatre, and she went on to follow in her Aunt’s footsteps, teaching in Germany. Muriel always took a keen interest in our careers, and even kept a scrapbook of local newspaper clippings documenting the orienteering exploits of my sister Wendy.
 
My cousin Michael recalls Muriel’s sea fairing credentials when he tells the story of a visit to his family’s farm where Muriel was invited to drive the combine harvester.  Never being one to duck a challenge she jumped at the chance - despite the fact that she couldn’t drive a car!  Not content with a single lap she declared she was going to “finish the field” and afterwards, when asked by her sister whether she enjoyed driving such a large and cumbersome machine she exclaimed “I loved it even though it lists a bit to port!”
 
I’ve had the pleasure of talking to many of Muriel’s friends over the past few weeks, and they all talk of the generosity and kindness she showed to them and others over the years. It’s fitting that in recent years, as Muriel became more dependent on others for support, that she has received kindness and generosity in return. In particular I’d like to thank Bob for the hundreds of lifts to church and hospital, her neighbours Angela and Geoff who always kept an eye out for Muriel, Don who’s title ‘The Gardener’ belies his many contributions to Muriel’s welfare in the latter years of her time in Baswich, and most recently the staff at Horse Fair Care Home in Rugeley who made Muriel’s last few years as comfortable as possible.
 
Muriel compiled many scrap-books and albums, but one in particular caught my eye – it included cards and letters she received from colleagues, pupils and parents on her retirement.  From the kind messages she clearly had a positive impact on many children’s lives. One parent shared a short poem which I thought equally appropriate now as then. “The world is round and the place that may seem like the end may only be the beginning.”  I’m sure Muriel believed death was the beginning of a new chapter in her story, and I hope also that some of the values she espoused will live on in future generations of our family.
 
I asked my youngest son Robbie for his impression of Aunt M – he described her as eccentric, which was very true, but also happy and cheerful, sentiments shared by many of her friends. In recent years, with fading hearing and memory, conversation had been limited, but when we used to take her out for lunch she would often sit up tapping the table with both hands with typical gusto as though she was playing the piano.  I used to think she was just enjoying herself, but on one of the few occasions I got to see her last year, she was still tapping despite otherwise saying nothing so I asked her if she was playing a tune – to my surprise she said ‘Daisy’ so myself and the staff at the home joined in singing ‘Daisy, Daisy’ while Muriel sang and tapped along.