Cath Evans

Cath Evans was a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, cousin, aunt and friend but never just an acquaintance. Her love of life shone from her, touching everyone she met and she never let the bad drag her down. Instead she quietly but very determinedly just got on with the business of living - with a joke and a smile. Maybe not so quietly. She laughed loudly and often and had quite the shouting voice too. Her temper was something to behold, though best appreciated from a distance if you had any sense! She couldn’t sing, at least not to the same tune as everyone else, but she never gave up trying. She’d give you whatever she could and leave you with some sage words whenever you had a problem - whether you wanted them or not. She made a legendary thyme and onion stuffing, and trained three very perplexed children in the art of making breadcrumbs by hand at an early age, but never did tell us how many eggs to use, or why we had to use thyme and not sage like everyone else. Sometimes she’d get sidetracked or forget what she went out for and she kept her purse in the fridge quite a lot of the time; she never told us why. She used a tea towel as a bib, and slurped her way through peaches with gusto. Apparently that’s how you tell they’re ripe. She didn’t drink, but loved a whisky. She hated chewing gum, but would happily help you dispose of it safely - and quickly. She followed all advice and instructions to rest, slow down and take things easy. We know that because she told us she did. Her IT skills were so good everyone has at least three entries in her phone and she managed to create and run two separate Facebook accounts. Cath Evans was a fiercely independent woman, determined to live life on her own terms and wring every drop of joy from it she could. Breast cancer didn’t see her off, and neither did the bone cancer. In the end, she went suddenly - a pain we bear, so she didn’t have to. Toast her with a whisky now and then and think of her when next you eat a peach - find her joy in giving it a good slurp! Most of all, laugh and love each other. She did.