Service

A beautiful service for Jane in Basil Spence's main chapel of Mortonhall Crematorium. On entry, it's severe to the point of austerity with simple wooden pews and just a skylight above the lectern to admit some trace of the eternal. But when you exit there's before you the soaring aspirational sunbeams of a stained glass sunrise. The hospital chaplain did a good job, left God out (probably at family request) and didn't try to smooth over the injustice of her untimely death. Jane's elder daughter, the spit of her mother, is wise beyond her years and even in a time of grief expressed that Jane will live on through her and her sister's achievements- a legacy. These were references to the line that's passed down, with mention also of Jane's feminist poet mother who handed Jane several torches, including a a healthy disrespect for authority and a compassionate siding with the underdog. Jane's husband spoke simply and movingly of his love and devotion, every word true and pure, before he broke down. They had a funeral tea at the Sanctuary (interfaith chapel) at the hospital where we worked. You could tell from the emotion in the congregants that this was the funeral of a young person who had touched many people with her simple, unrelenting goodness, humour and kindness. People always talk about such qualities when folk die but in Jane's case it was genuine and consistent, and I shall miss her.