R.I.P. Aunty Poppy

20 September 2013 will go down in history as the day the earth lost a precious lady, a woman who spent her life giving and serving, a woman who loved Jesus with all her heart, all her mind and all her strength, a woman who loved her family and pursued unity at all costs.

Aunty Poppy was one of my first real friends in South Africa, very quickly she won her way into my heart and before long I regarded her as my South African mother. She loved me and my family with a passion and could never wait to see any visiting members of my own family from the UK, particularly my Dad!

She was a giving and encouraging member of my very first ladies' Bible Study group, always quick to pray and to laugh and to hug and to cry with others. 

Aunty Poppy's love of Jesus no matter what her circumstances taught me so much; she would never give up rather constantly going to God with her requests and seeking her hope and her answers from her precious Father in heaven. Her eyes would light up when family members walked into the room and no matter how much noise and "trouble" her grandchildren gave her she would never have been separated from them! I learned so much from her about family and adoption and was so proud of her when she took in a wider family member from a rural area just to give her more of a chance in life.

My fondest memories of Aunty Poppy will always be seeing her emergence as a gifted, natural home based carer in her community and one of the founder members of Hope Home Based Care in 2008. Her natural way with people, her gentleness, her prayers and yet her no-nonsense approach at times made her a popular. sought out and respected member of the team and she was also a great trainer, never shy to pass on her skills and experience. She took health very seriously having battled her whole life with health issues and was very proud to set up and grow her own veggies and fruits in her garden in recent years. I called her one of my angels in Chris Nissen Park, I know that is how God sees her and she truly shone wherever she went.

Aunty Poppy you are home now with your Father having run a tremendous race, your legacy lives on and we will miss you with an ache that cannot be filled.

"You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendour which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God".