Retroexposure

The Funeral Eulogy

Eulogy

Susan Jane Day was born on the 4th March 1951 to parents Doug and Peggy Day. I looked up the meaning of the names. 'Susan' in Hebrew means Lily or pretty flower. 'Jane', in Hebrew means 'believer in the gracious God'.
Her father and grandfather we prominent businessmen in the shoe trade, and when Sue was only two years old she became the first ever model for a children's brand called 'Birthday Shoes'.
Sue went to the Stoneygate School for Girls, where she met Lesley and they stayed friends ever since.

Sue was always a charitable person, helping her mother, Peggy, with fundraising events, usually for the Save The Children fund. She had a caring nature that would become synonymous to her personality and her career.
After a few years at Charles Keene College, Sue went on to the Charles Freer School of Nursing where she qualified as a State Registered Nurse in 1970.
Sue spent her early years as a nurse at the Leicester Royal Infirmary under the guidance and tutelage of Sister Alison O'Connor, who many staff feared, except Sue. 'Nurse Day' saw Sister O'Connor as the inspiration for the nurse that she wanted to be. On one occasion Sue was left in charge of two wards, single-handed. Sue loved the challenge.

At home, her father referred to Sue as 'Titch'. Her nickname for him was probably 'Packhorse' as whenever they went on holiday, Sue would be coming off a train, or a plane empty handed while Doug would be staggering trying to hold his luggage as well as hers! 'Packhorse' was nickname that was to be inherited by her husband and then her son!

Which brings us on to Noel Donnelly.
Sue was always a studious girl at school and a career-making young woman until the day she met Noel, stepping out of a lift at the LRI. He was a porter at the hospital but had a wink and a smile that caught Sue's attention. After four dates together, Noel proposed to her. They were sitting in a cinema waiting to watch the main feature. Now Noel had been asking all sorts of questions prior to this, like "What kind of house would you want to live in?" and others with a future in mind. So when an advert for jewellery came up on the screen, Noel started asking questions about wedding or engagement rings. Sue just looked at him at and Noel just said, "Oh, bugger it! Will you marry me?" Not the most romantic of proposals, but naturally Sue said yes!
On the 7th June 1980, Sue became Mrs. Susan Donnelly. Although Sue wasn't Catholic, she and Noel were married at Holy Cross Church. Seven months later, Sue gave birth to twins, James and Christopher, who were eager to get out into world. Sadly, Christopher went to God just days later, but James would ensure, growing up, that HE would be more than enough to deal with!

Sue's favourite memories of young James were these two particular incidents.
When Sue's Nan was dying, 4-year-old James would tell Sue "Nan-Nan wasn't well."
But one morning, James said to her "Nan-Nan's ok now, she's sleeping." It was when Sue was at work that she got a phone call from Peggy to say that Nan had passed away earlier that morning, to which Sue replied, "I know. Jamie told me this morning at that exact time."
James was such a high-spirited little boy that he would constantly have his head teacher ringing Sue up to say what trouble James had got into. To which Sue gave Mrs. Fairlamb her permission to deal with James as she saw fit. Including a time where Mrs Fairlamb had to ring Sue at home and said, "Mrs. Donnelly, I am just calling to tell you that James was very naughty today, and I had to take his trousers down and smack his bottom!!" (Author's Note: Back in the Eighties this wasn't controversial!)

In all this, Sue had her parents there whenever she needed them, although when she had decided to move from the house around the corner from Doug and Peggy, that didn't stop them from worrying. There was a time when Sue had spent longer talking to Marie at the school gates when they had dropped off James and Gemma, that when Sue had arrived home, she found an exasperated Doug waiting in his car. "You weren't answering your phone at 9:30am," he said "So please ring your mother as soon as you get in!" Sue looked at her watch. It was only 9:45!
Sue took a great interest in the Catholic faith and she converted in 1985 after taking lessons with Canon Shaw.

Sue's world came crashing down when, in the last few months of 1989, she lost both parents. But she took strength from her belief in the Virgin Mary, and was able to go in to a new decade with her faith stronger than ever.
Sue reached the peak of her career when in the nineties; she became a Night Sister in Wigston nursing home. She was so supportive to relatives of her patients over the years that she remained friends with them. Some of them go back over 30 years.

In 1997, Noel passed away after he was in an accident at work. But still she found her strength in the church. She and Noel had only been in the Choir a short time soon after moving to the parish here at St. Mary's.
Sue remained a steadfast member of Choir even taking on extra roles as part of the flower guild and secretary to the S.V.P.

When Sue was diagnosed with cancer last year she refused to let it get her down. Her stubbornness was an asset. "If I've got it, I want the strongest drugs that they can possibly give me!" Sue was a fighter. She didn't want to go into hospital over Christmas or New Year, as it could've been her last and she didn't want to spend Noel's anniversary in hospital. She was stubborn to the end, arguing with the district nurse, insisting that she didn't need a hospital bed in place at home, and besides, her own bed was far more comfortable. And the bed downstairs would just look untidy. On many occasions, Sue had to just go over the housework that James had down, just to give it the 'mother's touch'!

You can sum up Sue in this one sentence:
She was a daughter, a wife, a confidant, a friend, but most of all, a Mum. Who always looked after her son, no matter how old he is!