Sharing a beautiful tribute we received, so well written from our mother’s dear friend, Linda Yelland, as follows:
“We met Chris and Lee when they came to The Villages, and attended a New Hampshire group meeting. We had just moved here. Before they left, they also bought a home here and thus, like us spent summers in NH and winters here in Florida.
Chris soon joined groups of interest to her, French club, British Friday morning breakfast, several neighborhood meal get together’s, ball room dancing lessons and bowls to name a few.
Chris and I learned to line dance at the nightly music on the square. Chris was quite an athlete, her first time on the golf course she hit right down the fairway, two more hits and in the hole. She walked to get the newspaper and swam every day. She had skied Tuckerman’s Ravine in NH, just a sheer cliff. She became one of the top players in bowls in just a few weeks and was a fierce competitor at tennis.
The four of us ate at almost every restaurant in and around the area. We also cooked at home, one time sticks is my mind. We were to have spaghetti , when Chris tipped the spaghetti into the colander (she had made enough for a platoon) over it went down the disposal. Laughing like children we pulled it out, washed and yes, we served and ate it. Eventually we settled on lunches at Sweet Tomatoes and breakfasts of pastries and coffee at Panera.
Chris and I shared books and magazines. We shopped at yarn stores , outlet malls in NH and in Florida. But our favaorite was Barnes and Noble to peruse books magazines and have a pastry and coffee. When her grandchildren came along, Chris was most interested in children’s books to read to them on Skype. As time and ill health hit us both we comiserated. We could make up for each others declining areas. I had a health crash, hospitalized and essentially chair bound for weeks, after coming home. Chris was the first to visit and brought a book and pastry.
Chris’s first and foremost interest was for her family. She was up for almost anything they wanted or needed. Lee would, frequently, wake Chris up at 5:30 A.M. ”get up Chris, we’ll sleep the day away”, off they would go to breakfast, almost before the restaurant was opened. If her grandchildren needed Halloween costumes, Chris was off to the fabric store and out came the sewing machine. The boys, Greg and Scott, were always at the forefront of her mind. When Lee wanted to travel, she would get ready in jig time. She was really miraculous, in the womankind world. She always traveled with only a carry-on bag—nothing else and they may be gone for a month or more. Chris could throw a scarf around her shoulders, go to a symphony and be just as sophisticatedly dressed as any lady who spent hours primping. These abilities, I have long admired.
Chris was perhaps the kindest person I ever met. She never gossiped, she just didn’t have a negative bone in her body. She was grace in the flesh. I will always miss her and will think of her every time there is a soft summer breeze. Adieu sweet Christine and may you have a soft landing among the stars.”