“I loved the bones of her”. This was how devoted husband Steve Clarke remembered late wife Maureen at a special service held in her memory at Walsall Manor Hospital.
A service was held in the Trust Chapel at the hospital to remember Maureen Goring-Clarke, who died of cancer just 21 days after they got married. They had been together for nearly 40 years.
Maureen, 57, died on 8 May after lung cancer spread to her brain. A Support Services Assistant on various wards at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, Maureen was diagnosed in November 2022 after tests showed she was at stage 4, which is terminal.
Around 30 former colleagues friends and family crammed into the Chapel to pay their respects.
Rev. Edd Stock, Team Leader, Chaplaincy, Spiritual Care and Bereavement at Walsall Healthcare, led the service and paid tribute to Maureen.
“Maureen was a warm person, truly loved by so many people, not only as a colleague but as a friend too. When you lose someone it hurts, and it hurts today that she is no longer with us,” said Edd.
“She was remarkable in so many ways and those memories of her are deeply treasured. This is an opportunity to give thanks for her and share those memories. Each of you carry a part of Maureen with you.”
Edd read out a poem ‘Never Say Goodbye’ and invited two Housekeeping colleagues of Maureen’s Karen Bullers and Jo Cox – the latter of whom used to call her ‘Nanny Mo’ – to say a few words.
Maureen was known for her immaculate cleaning and Jo said: “She always wanted everything perfect so you can imagine what she thought when I used to spill egg and beans on her clean floor!”
Among family attending the service were Maureen’s sisters Chris Clarke and Ann-Marie Bellerson and niece Lucy Banks, and her best friends for 40 years, sisters Fiona Newman, Jenny Horne and Pam Archer.
Jenny recalled: “She was a really good friend – like a relative really, and we had a lot of fun together. Her laugh was so infectious – you couldn’t hear a sound but her shoulders would be shaking!”
Fiona added: “She was a very warm lady and a trusting, caring individual who would help you at any time. She never wanted to let anyone down.”
Steve, 60, a security officer at Screwfix in Fradley, near Lichfield, brought the house down when he said: “I used to play the staff at Asda up and the ladies would say ‘how do you put up with him?’ Maureen would answer ‘I take him everywhere so I don’t have to kiss him terrah!’ I loved the bones of her.”
People were then invited to light a candle in Maureen’s memory as a rock ‘n’ roll song ‘Goodnight Maureen’ provided the backdrop, followed by Queen’s ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ and Simple Minds’s ‘With Or Without You’, to reflect her musical tastes.
Steve was pleased with how the service went. “It was amazing – everyone has done Maureen and I proud,” he said. “There was a really good turnout and it was upbeat, she would have loved that.”
Maureen and Steve had tied the knot in a ceremony on April 18 on Ward 29 at the hospital, brought forward due to her diagnosis.