Mary Valentine Quinn: 14th February 1944 – 24th November 2009

Mary was born on 14th February 1944, St Valentine's Day.

In 2009, she celebrated her 65th birthday and she was looking forward to getting her first free Christmas meal in the village.

Mary was an only child, born in Bristol when her mother Mercia was 41, towards the end of the war and Mary didn’t meet her Dad, Basil Cuthbert Payne, for two years.

She grew up in Bristol, attending Catholic school in Clifton, and spent time at George’s bookshop where her Dad had worked since the age of 14 and eventually where he became manager. This began her love of books.

After school, she went on to work at Bristol Siddeley Engines and was taking part-time studies at Bath University in about 1964, when she met her future husband, Jim. They had both enjoyed the Blue Notes Jazz Band, where she was often to be found sitting on the floor with her back to the piano – under which it is said she also fell sleep a few times.

Jim and Mary married in August 66 and had their first child, Fiona in 67, followed by Phil in 1970.

While Jim was away a lot on business, Mary was encouraged to join the Bristol Catholic players and developed a love for Gilbert and Sullivan operettas where she starred as the company's wardrobe assistant, as well as singing in the chorus.

It was her mother’s wish to move back to Weston-super-Mare where she was born. Sadly her mother died before she could, but the family moved to Weston anyway, when Mary was 43.

During this time, Fiona had left for university and Phil started making friends in the town, which resulted in him meeting the Baines, and being friendly with Lisa. While he spent a lot of time at the Baines, Lisa spent a lot of time at Mary’s. Through this, Sue Baines and Mary would end up chatting on the phone to each other, pleased that their kids were at least in safe hands if not in their own. Both houses became open houses. Mary would wander round Weston and quite often someone would shout out “Hello Mum”.

The kids left home, and after a few difficult years, Jim and Mary divorced. Mary built up a new life for herself, but was finding it difficult surviving in Weston, driving 20 miles to work as an accountant in Bristol each day “for a pittance”. In her own words, she said, “I wondered if I would ever find a way to retire, as without my job I could not afford to keep my house. The expenses of petrol and bus fares and council tax ever increasing and my wages static I found depressing and felt trapped.”

She would look forward to her short breaks away with Fiona on the latest easyjet flight from Bristol, and every couple of months they were popping off to places such as Rome, Venice carnival, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Prague and Nice. A couple of trips to Nice and Mary decided that maybe living in France was not such a bad idea. Shortly afterwards, at a party at the Baines in Weston, Pat & Sue invited her over to stay with them in Moutardon.

The following is an extract from something Mary wrote: “On arrival at our friend’s house in SW France it was the quiet and peacefulness, which were our first impressions. Darkness fell and the sky was clear with hundreds of stars in the velvety blackness. I wandered down the drive with my wine glass in my hand guided by the moonlight. My friends came out to see where I was and I explained my amazement.”

“The following days were spent sitting on their patio and visiting local markets and generally relaxing. I spent one afternoon sitting in the sun with a glass of wine and work seemed a million miles away. The following day we all visited a local estate agents and I viewed several properties. I fell in love with a three bedroomed bungalow in a nearby village and was astonished to find I could afford it. Scared that I would lose it I put an offer in and the following day Fiona and I left for home. As the TGV pulled into Paris the mobile rang and we learnt my offer had been accepted and I would own a house in France in four months! To Fiona’s embarrassment I then sat in a pizza place in Paris crying with fear, excitement and various other emotions.”

Mary’s week was filled with plenty of wine and so many giggles and private jokes that her jaws and belly ached from laughing so much. Even up until last week, she still chuckled at all the silly things and Allo Allo type codes they made up that week.

Returning to the office on Monday she was asked how her holiday went and she told them she was buying a house in France and they didn’t believe her. Comments ranged from “Oh one day!” to “Don’t be funny; your own house isn’t even on the market”. She said, “I found the tunnel out of here and there is a train in it heading for France so I am off.”

A week before her 60th birthday, Mary moved to Barro, sharing a furniture lorry with Lisa and Gavin, who had also decided that if Mary was moving, they were coming too.

That was six years ago, and since then Mary has integrated herself into her village so much, every person has a little tale to tell, and talks of her as someone who will be sorely missed.

The Barro villagers took her to their hearts straight away. She visited the Mairie within a few days to enquire about recycling bags. But the Mayor did not understand at first, and burst out laughing when Mary's "yellow-bags" were eventually translated to "sac jaunes".

While settling in, she had problems with France Telecom accounting department. Nobody there seemed to understand that: ku ou ee deux enn (Q U I N N) meant QUINN, so when her first bill arrived addressed to Queen Mary, she creased herself! Since then she also had been known fondly as “La Reine”.

She started off a little timidly, but it was not long before she joined the local craft afternoon - Les Z’Abeilles”. Here she met the French friends such as Odette and Maryse who helped her improve her French, although rather than speak French fluently, she quite often translated English sayings directly into French and made them laugh so that she had to start laughing with them.

Here, she also made cards or lavender bags, and tried her hand at other crafts such as stained glass. Then she introduced teabags and walnut cake to the local community, including the Maire.

She said she was never bored in retirement. If she wasn’t painting watercolours of the local village features such as the lavoir and the church, she was painting the furniture or her walls.

She loved her garden, her flowers and her cats: Magique, Belle and Nougat, especially. Time at home was spent reading, doing crosswords, listening to music (her favourites being Queen, Cliff Richard, Take That, Robbie Williams or Phantom of the Opera), she loved Strictly Come Dancing, Antiques Roadshow, Eggheads, Midsomer Murders, Poirot and Diagnosis Murder.

With friends she enjoyed eating out at places like Luxé, or going to quiz nights, carol concerts or garden centres. She particularly loved sitting on the harbour in St Martin, Ile de Re eating ice cream.

Sunday mornings, and from the first brocante of the year in Alloue, Mary was up and out early wandering all the stalls, and used to laugh at all the junk the French thought they could sell.

Mary was chuffed to bits to be invited to the village vendange meal as well as to the Mayor’s wedding, as the only English person at both. She also enjoyed “Pineau time” with her French neighbours, who often called out over the garden fence. She dressed up for Barro Frairie every year and loved being a part of village life, but hated having to be a Bretonne lady.

She enjoyed all the village meals, especially Christmas and moules-frites, and was often to be found dancing with the French men. So last year, she was upset to hear the Salle de Fetes was booked up for New Year’s Eve and decided to organise it herself at her house.

2009 started off with Mary’s party. 14 French People attended with 5 English. It was still in full swing on New Years Day at four in the morning!

She loved being here so much, and said that last summer she was sitting in her pool, listening to only the birds breaking the silence and couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have this life.

Her love of life meant that she was still planning up till the end, and on the day before was organising where things should go for her granddaughters’ visit in a couple of weeks.

Mary was smart, intelligent, determined, larger than life, enjoyed a giggle, and told it how it was.

Most of all, it’s her laughs we’ll no longer hear. She will be sorely missed, and there is now a little piece missing from the world where she was. She will always be in our hearts and we were lucky to have known her.

God saw you getting tired

and a cure was not to be

so he put his arms around you

and whispered,

Come to Me.

With tearful eyes we watch you

and saw you pass away

and although we loved you dearly

we could not make you stay.

A Golden heart stopped beating

hard working hands at rest.

God broke our hearts to prove us

he only takes the best

Mary passed away on 24th November (the same day as Freddie Mercury) in 2009, from a short illness with lung cancer.