Page 11 - Gwen Landsberry - Eulogies

Two weeks before Mum died, Belinda and I visited her at Lansdowne
Gardens, Neutral Bay. She was becoming less responsive each week,
sometimes barely having the strength to speak.

This particular visit, we’d had little more than a nod and a wink from her
when she suddenly sat forward, pointed over Belinda’s shoulder and
said: “There’s Claire.” I knew, then, that Mum’s time with us was coming
to an end. The O’Briens were calling her, especially Claire, no doubt to
continue the same conversation they’d never quite finished. Nor ever
will.

If I had to find one word to sum up Mum, it would have to be “family.”
There was nothing more important to her and if she gave me one gift I
value most in the world it’s a love for family.
Mum’s idea of Heaven was being surrounded by family - and the more
the merrier.

As one of 12 O’Brien children she was never happier than when the
O’Briens gathered together and over the years as the numbers grew,
Dad affectionately labelled these noisy get-togethers as “The O’Brien
Festival.”
In keeping with this, Mum loved having her children around her. From
an early age, I was encouraged to bring friends home so that Mum could
enjoy the fun, laughter and general din we created.
Of course we took this to the extreme, especially in school holidays
when we formed a rock band and jammed till either the cows came
home… or Mum left it. But she never did. Mum never complained about
the noise or the mess or the motley crew which regularly turned up on
her doorstep. She just loved having us there. The feeling was mutual.

In her twilight years, Belinda and I delighted in bringing Mum home for
overnight visits. This started in 2004 while we were at Pymble and
continued through to 2017 when we were at Wahroonga.

We knew Mum was starting to wind down when the stories started to
repeat – the memories muddy – and her obsession with clean gutters
escalate.
Every week saw the same routine: In the morning I’d drop Elyse to
school at Ravenswood in Gordon then Mum back to Willoughby.

Alarm bells started jangling when Mum viewed this same routine each
week with fresh eyes. Every week she was surprised and delighted to
see Elyse joining us in the car. Every week she was surprised and
delighted to see Elyse went to Ravenswood School for Girls. And every
week she was surprised and delighted to see the cleanliness of the
gutters lining the roads.