I met Marguerite standing on my front doorstep in Clapham North, suitcases and bags in hand many years ago when she first arrived in London. She was starting a job in Graphic Design and I had been requested by a liaison contact in her father’s company to help with finding her somewhere to stay short term, whilst she ‘found her feet’ in a new country and city.

We laughed before we said ‘hello’, I took in the chic French girl with the sparkling dark eyes, winning smile and, of course, ‘that accent’. We both knew immediately we would be friends and that she would be renting my spare room for as long as she liked!!
I think we shared the flat for about 18 months, during which time we celebrated our achievements and commiserated our losses together as we worked all hours growing our careers. Of course, we had a lot of fun too! Marguerite was such a joy to have around, positive, full of fun and mischief, as well as worldly insight. The sofa bed in our lounge was often full of visitors, both friends and family visiting from France and England. Impromptu dinner parties, parties, events and work, we laughed and cried together as we journeyed through life’s roller coaster.

M’gite asked me to correct her English (I also spoke French) so we stuck to English, but I soon stopped correcting her because she had her own disarming way of communicating that I felt would be best preserved as part of her uniqueness. For example, she used to tell me she was very ‘crosst’ with me if she saw me doing my skipping exercises without a sports bra and lectured me that I would have boobs down to my tummy button when I was an old lady one day!!

Vibrant, beautiful and effortlessly elegant, she worked incredibly hard, met life’s challenges head on and I never saw her shirk anything. She didn’t stand nonsense, would challenge if she thought a mistake was being made, but was always loyal, thoughtful, loving and supportive.

Although they have spoken over the years, the only time Marguerite and my husband met was when he was on a business trip to London. I wanted them to meet and asked her to take him out for the evening. They had a marvellous time and rang me to tell me so – I was at home in South Africa with two small babies so felt rather left out! It was an evening my husband never forgot with this lovely French woman who kept asking him if he wanted to go to the bathroom, to which he said ‘no’ several times. Eventually, she had to insist he pay a visit. He did and had never seen anything like that kind of graffiti before and he still dines out on the story to this day! Marguerite had taken him to Madame JoJo’s!!!!!

Over the years we have stayed in touch, life keeping us busy in different parts of the world so we weren’t able to see each other as often as we would have liked to. Marguerite visited me in Holland when my son was ill, we met again a few years later at Maidstone service station when I was driving to my parents with the children and she visited us at my parents as well as me visiting her and Christopher. I always believed life would quieten down at some point and we would still be able to meet up into our old age. I am heartsore that this will no longer be possible.

Johan and I send our heartfelt condolences and love to Christopher and all the family on both sides. XX