Vivienne
This is my Viv. A force of nature who never dyed her hair, could touch her toes at 95, and made caramel puddings that would make your eyes water. She had a way with words, like the time she saw my dad leaning out the window to adjust the TV aerial and said, "Good gracious, Michael — be careful! That's how Emu died!" Viv was highly amused to sit for these portraits, endlessly saying ‘Gracious I look awful don’t I?’ But she soldiered on and gave a beautiful short conversation (below) which was later used at her wake, some months after this was made. An amazing, humorous, life-loving woman.
“My father was such a good man.”
— Vivienne
Viv's life was woven from resilience, love and quiet determination. She had a difficult childhood and was sent away to the country during the war — an experience that stayed with her always. She married Tom, a bold and courageous man, and built a family defined by strength and loyalty. We never discovered the full story of her own father, though family research pointed in fascinating directions.
What we do know is that she carried her loves and losses with extraordinary grace — and that she shared them, in her own time and on her own terms, with those she trusted.