Born in Birkenhead,Wirral United Kingdom on January 02,1940,to
 James(Jock)and Beatrice Sword,mum was a twin to her brother Jimmy,and was one of thirteen children.Sadly my mum's brother Micky was killed in the services in Cyprus at the age of 18,sadly the family were not told until he had been buried,this obviously devastated my Nan and Grandad and the rest of the family.My mum married my Dad and had four children Colin,David,Elaine(me)and Jeanette.Mum had 11 Grandchildren and 4 Greatgrandchildren we were such a close family.Sadly my Nan died suddenly on Dec 27th 1981this devastated the whole family as Nan had not been ill at all.Then 10yrs later on October 10th 1991 my Grandad passed away after a short illness.My mum and her two sister's Eileen and Val comforted each other.Eileen and Val used to come and visit most days mum looked forward to this and if they couldnt visit the three of them were on the telephone to each other.Mum had so many visitor's with coming from a big family, we used to say her house was like a cafe her twin brother Jimmy would call every day for breakfast while he was working as a cab driver and her younger brother Dave would call a few times a week,mums nieces and nephews loved to visit with there children,especially Suza Eileen's daughter she would visit every day with her children.Mums house was never empty our friends would always be in the house.My best friend Diana used to visit my mum with her son Patrick while I was at work and even when I moved to Australia she would go to mum's most Sundays for her dinner,and this continued when I come home,even though we had our own homes my mum loved her children to go to her house for sunday dinner,but I think she enjoyed the peace when we had all gone home.On June 7th 1995 we got a phone call saying that my aunty Eileen's daughter Susan(suza) had been taken into hospital as she had been suffering severe migraine for a couple of days,A couple of hours later another call came to say that it was suspected menengitis and they were airlifting her to Birmingham,sadly Suza never made it there she passed away a couple of hours later at the age of 29 leaving a husband and two beautiful sons.The whole family were devastated,I was so close to Susan we were more like sister's than cousins,we spent most weekends together either going out with our partners or I would go to her house,we used to have so much fun,and when she died I felt so alone,Within a couple of weeks Eileen (Susan's mum)became ill,she hadnt been feeling to good for a while and never complained,when she finally got a diagnosise,it was a brain tumour,she went into hospital for an operation,but it was not successful.We had a big family Holiday booked to Cyprus to visit Mums Brother Micky's grave,Aunty Val and Uncle Dave were also coming.Mum was so upset leaving Eileen,we went on holiday and made the best of it we could.On our return home the family had decided to bring Eileen home and look after her,so aswell as grieving for Suza we had Eileen to look after.All her sister's and brother's worked together with Eileen's other two daughter's Julie, Jane and Husband John so she was never alone,me and my sister Jeanette used to help out on our days off work,it was hard watching my mum as she was grieving for Suza and nursing her sister.Sadly Eileen passed away six months after Suza on 10th Dec 1995.The grief my Mum was feeling for Suza and losing her Sister Eileen was so unbearable to watch.On Sun January 13th 1997 we went to Mum's as usual for Sunday dinner,mum was in bed as she said she didn't feel to good,myself and Jeanette thought it best if we phoned the doctor,when he arrived he thought it best for mum to go to hospital it was nothing serious he thought she needed to have some oxygen as she suffered with her chest.Me ,Jeanette and my Dad went to hospital with her,shortly followed by Aunty Val and Uncle Dave. Mum was put on oxygen and she perked up great,Val suggested that as mum was settled for me to go home for some rest (as I was 5 months pregnant)so myself and Jeanette come home.Val phoned later that evening to say Mum was settled and looked great,and for us not to go back to the hospital until the following day and give us instructions off Mum what to take up to her. Later that same evening around 9o'clock my brother Colin phoned to say the hospital had phoned and wanted the family to go straight to the hospital.I don't know what we were thinking on are way there but we didnt expect the news we got.A doctor took me and Colin into a room(my dad didnt want to hear what we were going to be told,so he went straight into Mums room)the doctor told us that it would not be fair on my mum to give her any more treatment,as her chest was so bad.We agreed after a discussion and left the room.When we entered my Mums room I was so shocked and realized that her Sister's and Brother's had to be informed,so my cousin Julie rounded the family up.When my Mum became an Angel she was surrounded by her Husband, 4Children,Sister's,Brother's and her Niece's and Nephew's. This proves how much my Mum was loved by her Family.We all continue to miss her still.After a couple of months I decided to move my Dad into my home so I could look after him,we used to have such fun with him as he was always joking,on April 27th I left my home for work at 3.30 and everything was normal Dad was sitting watching the racing,my Husband arrived home from work at 4.20 and left the house at 4.30.When he arrived back home at 5.10 my Dad had passed away.And the really nice thing about it is that my Dad knew my Mum was coming to take him to meet all her Angel friends and Family as he had put a clean housecoat on and combed his hair and poured himself one last large Gin and tonic.So as you can imagine this comforts us so much knowing my Mum and Dad are reunited. And my Mum got what she had only dreamed of while she was growing up...we took her to Cyprus a year before she became an Angel to see her brother Micky's grave.   Thankyou for taking the time to read about our Mum and Dad please feel free to light a candle in memory of our Mum and Dad.