Person:Mary Geatches (1)

Eulogy Nan Baber (Mary Murch Baber) 25th March 1913 – 27th January 2012 Funeral Service 7 Feb 2012 I am so very honoured to represent you all here in celebrating the life of one of the dearest and kindest people I have known, my Nan, Mary Baber. She brought us together as a family so many times; like the family picnics and the anniversaries. It would have meant a lot to her knowing that we are together again today in her honour. Nan’s appreciation of the simple uncomplicated things in life is a reflection of her upbringing as a farmer’s daughter and then as a farmer’s wife. Nan was born in 1913 at Cliston Farm, Blackawton near Dartmouth. She was one of five children, having 3 brothers and a sister. Her parents, Thomas & Bessie Geatches, then moved the family a few miles east to Coombe Farm overlooking the river Dart where Nan attended Dittisham School. While Nan was still a youngster, the Geatches family moved to Lukesland Farm, Harford on the edge of the moors above Ivybridge. And that is where Nan caught the eye of a farm labourer on neighbouring Pithill Farm……….Wyatt Baber, or Grampy to me. They tied the knot in 1932 at Harford Church and six years later started farming on their own at West Moore Farm near Totnes. They farmed at West Moore for 17 years. In addition to the births of four children, the other big event at West Moore was the arrival of the gas refrigerator which Nan often remarked much improved life on the farm. In 1955, Nan and Grampy moved to Dippertown Farm near Lewdown. This is where I was born and where my earliest memories of Nan begin. My parents lived in one of the farm cottages. We didn’t have a plumbed-in bath so on Sundays I was sent across to the big farm house where Nan would give me a bath. It involved a dip in luke warm grey water in an unheated bathroom, the application of a hard block of green soap, followed by a scrubbing with what felt like a yard brush, and once clean a rub down with a towel with the texture of sandpaper. But after a week running around on the farm I reckon others appreciated Nan’s efforts to get me clean more than I did. It was while at Dippertown that Nan introduced Grampy to a revolutionary new concept to farming………….taking a holiday! In their retirement they enjoyed many coach tours across the UK. Prior to this, Nan’s holidays were short breaks with her daughters and their families; Aunt Betty at Stone Farm, Aunt Marg at Knowle Farm and Aunt Mary at Eastlake Farm. Nan was a keen gardener; and got pleasure from making her own small patch of natural beauty in all the places she lived. Like her life, no matter how difficult the ground, she made things good. Nan kept a tidy garden with manicured lawns, weed free paths and colourful flower beds. The garden that Nan created that meant most to me was at Dippertown Farm. Right in the middle of the working farm; beyond the cows muck and the rusty agricultural implements waiting to fixed; behind the brilliant white palisade gate in the high granite wall was Nan’s garden oasis which became my playground. Nan and Grampy retired from farming in 1967 and moved into one of Dippertown’s farm cottages; Beech Tree Cottage. In 1974 they moved back near to the place where they met, here in Ivybridge at Cleeve Drive, where they celebrated their Golden and Diamond wedding anniversaries. Nan was so generous to others but frugal when it came to treating herself. She was proud of the fact that she saved the cost of a new carpet in the living room by darning the hole made by Grampy’s feet in front of his favourite armchair. Nan liked the natural world and wildlife. One day at the bungalow here in Ivybridge Nan saw a hedgehog on the lawn so nipped down to the shop to buy some cat food to feed it……only when the hedgehog didn’t eat it she realised that it was dead! Grampy sadly passed away in 1997 and many here will remember his service in this church. Nan stayed at the bungalow until 2004 when she moved to Newton Abbott to live with her daughter, my Aunty Betty. Nan ended her days in the most wonderful nursing home, St Benet’s Court in Newton Abbott where she was treated with great care, respect and dignity. Her room looked out across the valley to cows and sheep grazing in the fields; a most fitting place for Nan to end her days here on earth. Today she goes to rest alongside her husband of almost 65 years in the cemetery here at Ivybridge. I imagine her in heaven with Aunt Mary’s Stephen and Grampy and perhaps saying ‘I thought you had gone up London way to look at some cows’! She enjoyed a quiet life, which revolved mainly around Grampy and the family. For me Nan has been the constant throughout my life. In my memory she always looked the same with her white hair and welcoming smile. She always saw the goodness in everyone and never had a bad word to say about anybody. She was someone you could rely on, someone you could talk to, knowing you would be neither judged nor criticised. You could count on her support whatever the problem. She didn’t take sides but would try to heal rifts. She has for so many years been the centre of our family which has now grown to over 40 of us so far, and there are more on the way. She gave so much to the lives of others and asked for nothing in return. It was her only wish that her family, her friends and anyone needing support were happy. My own Mum, Pat, has never forgotten that Nan was there for her with moral support and guidance when our own family was in difficulty. Nan always had an open door to visitors, a ready supply of cheese and Jacobs crackers, a home-baked cake in the tin, and as a special treat for me a Cornish pasty. In the last few years Nan got a bit muddled about her age and proudly told everyone that she was 100! She was in fact 14 months short of that goal but I’m glad she thought she had reached it. There cannot be many who had so many roles in one lifetime……..daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great grandmother and friend. While today we can be sad that Nan is not with us, we should be grateful that we had her loving presence in our lives for so long. Goodbye Nan we love you and we will all miss you.

By your loving grandson, Robert Baber.

95th Birthday