The World’s Number 1 Best Sister Deborah was a diligent driver, a green fingered gardener, a masterful medical secretary, a devoted daughter, a wonderful wife, a marvellous mother and a super sister. Whatever Deborah did, she did it well. Deborah was a perfectionist; she gave everything 110 percent. Deborah was a super sister, in fact she was the world’s number 1 best sister. How so? 1. Protective and brave – If you were a tot of three and an older child took you away to another block of flats, hid you under the stairs and told you to be quiet and not to answer the calls of the search party. Be reassured two blue eyes would appear through the wooden slats, the two blue eyes of your sister come to rescue you. If you were a kid whose nickname was ‘Beanpole’ and you found yourself on a trampoline with two kids built like trucks attempting to catapult you over the fence, know that your older sister will chase them off armed with a red flip-flop. If you were not brave enough to say ‘no’ to an offer of a lift from a stranger, be sure Deborah would be there to play tug of war and pull you out of the car. If you were a teenager and you got shaken, sworn at and your head smashed against the wall, know Deborah would find out where they worked and give them a warning… know you would never be bothered by them again. If you were a scatterbrain teenager and you missed the last train home, know to stay where you are as Deborah will make the hour and a half round trip to pick you up. But what about when you are an adult? Know that few people will phase you, know you will sort out an injustice whether it be against yourself or another because you had the best teacher, your sister Deborah. 2. Teacher – Deborah would teach you how to restore the flavour of your chewed bubble gum – place it on tin foil and put it in Mum’s freezer for about thirty minutes. Deborah would teach you how to survive. During the Rhodesian civil war Deborah added an ‘add on’ to ambush practice. Know, if your school or house got shot up by the terrorists, know they will be entering the building to finish you off. Being a child won’t make you exempt, it will make you an easy target. Her ‘add on’ was to ‘play dead’, we practised taking it in turns staging our death, to lie as still as possible, eyes open and unblinking. Deborah was so convincing, you would burst in to tears because you really believed she had died, she would blink her eyes, laugh, ‘not really,’ she would say and jump up and play something else. 3. Supporter - If you bore easily, if you like to have your fingers in more pies than Mr Kipling, Deborah would support you. If you project you will have more projects than you can shine a projector at, Deborah would still support you. A level biology – Deborah spent three days trudging round using transect lines and quadrat squares investigating biodiversity within a woodland in Sussex. If no one else wanted to attend the ‘Ah Ha concert’ with you, Deborah would go, even if she was pregnant with Sean. Deborah would attend your beauty therapy seminars, shows and courses. If you had a demonstration on open days at your beauty salon Deborah was a willing model for facials, make up demonstrations and even leg waxing. Such was her dedication to support you she would very quietly sit through the leg waxing, not until all the observers had booked their first leg wax with a ten percent discount, then she would tell you,’ that waxing was more painful than childbirth!’ A degree, an MA, whatever you wish to study Deborah would take an interest, read your assignments, edit and comment. 4. Kind and loving – If you lost your lunch at school, not in a ‘someone else has eaten it kind of way’, more like in a ‘I don’t feel so good way’, know Deborah would take care of you. First, she would shepherd you home on your bike, tuck you up on the sofa, then the bucket, books and cats would arrive and she would head to the kitchen to make a convalescent meal. Deborah’s first convalescent meal was fried rice on toast with tomato ketchup, this crispy, crunchy creation where she had forgotten to boil the rice was luckily a one off. Deborah was a great cook. Your taste buds would be awoken by chocolate cake, rock cakes, beat and bake cake, German tart, milk tart, bobotie, quiche lorraine and bread rolls. When you first left home and did not have time to cook due to work, Deborah would arrive with Tupperware boxes full of homemade spaghetti bolognaise, stews, cottage pie and puds. If you were celebrating your wedding day and your Nanna Fe Fe had died a month before, Deborah would ensure Nan’s gift of the poem, ‘The Art of a Good Marriage’ was written out, framed and wrapped. Protective and brave, teacher, supporter, kind and loving – all of these make Deborah the World’s Number One Best Sister. On the 3rd of March, on the day Deborah passed away, Deborah’s last words to me were, ‘love you’. These words are the greatest gift she could leave me. Then a month later, on my birthday she left me a big box - a box full of presents, presents to inspire, presents that represented everything she was and everything she still stands for and everything I aspire to be. Thank you, Deborah. I am truly blessed. XXXX