Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders, OM, DBE (1918-2005)
Michael Rhodes
<<DAME CICELY SAUNDERS, OM>>
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were represented by Princess
Alexandra at a service of thanksgiving for the life and work of Dame
Cicely Saunders, OM, held 8 March, 2006, at Westminster Abbey.
The Rev Robert Wright, Sub-Dean of Westminster, officiated, assisted by
the Rev Deiniol Morgan, Minor Canon and Precentor of Westminster. The
Rev Hilary Johnson, senior chaplain, St George's Hospital Trust, led
the prayers assisted by the Rev Andrew Goodhead, spiritual care leader
from St Christopher's Hospice.
Professor Irene Higginson, scientific director, the Dame Cicely
Saunders Foundation, and Dr Penelope Lacey, niece, read the lessons.
Ms Barbara Monroe, chief executive, St Christopher's Hospice, read
the passage "The Road to Gethsemane" from The Stature of Waiting,
1982, by William Hubert Vanstone. Dr Robert Twycross, Emeritus Clinical
Reader in Palliative Medicine, Oxford University, and Dr Sam Klagsbrun,
medical director of Four Winds Hospital, Katonah, New York, paid
tribute.
In an act of rededication, the Sub-Dean was assisted by Ms Liz Bradnam,
a nurse from St Christopher's Hospice, Ms Barbara Gomes Da Silva,
research associate from the Dame Cicely Saunders Foundation, and Mr
David Oliviere, director of education at St Christopher's Hospice.
During the service Mr Damian Falkowski, violin, and Mr Robert Quinney,
organ, played from The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Canon Nicholas Sagovsky, canon theologian, Canon Robert Reiss, canon
treasurer, Canon Jane Hedges, steward, and Canon Jonathan Goodall were
robed and seated in the Sacrarium.
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Mayor of Westminster
attended. Among others present were:
Mr and Mrs John Saunders and Mr and Mrs Christopher Saunders (brothers
and sisters-in-law), Mr and Mrs Giles Saunders, Miss Lucy Saunders, Mr
and Mrs Philip Saunders, Ellie, Hugo and Poppy Saunders, Professor and
Mrs Guy Kirk, Mr Rory Kirk, Thomas and Lucy Kirk, Mr and Mrs Layne
Hamerston, Mr Martin Cook, Mr Andrew Cook, Mr David Doggett, Ms Joanna
Lacey, Mr Edward Middleton, Mrs Margaret Pawley, Dr and Mrs Thomas
Kelen, Miss Joanna Kelen, Mr and Mrs Roy Sherwin, Mrs Rosalind
Fairhead, Mr and Mrs Robert Stratford, Mrs Elizabeth Walker, Ms Frances
McBride.
Anne Duchess of Norfolk (president and founder, Help the Hospices),
Countess Cadogan, Halina Countess of Munster, the Right Rev John and
Mrs Austen Baker, the Right Rev Christopher Rogerson, Lord Fellowes and
Sir Edward Ford (The Order of Merit), Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, Lord
Stewartby (Sir Halley Stewart Trust), Baroness Jay of Padddington, Lady
Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, Lord Wilson of Dinton, Lady Nicholas Gordon
Lennox.
The Hon Mrs Houston (Isabel Hospice, Welwyn Garden City), the Hon Julia
Stonor, Lady Arbuthnot, Sir William and Lady Reardon Smith, Sir Anthony
and Lady Touche, Professor Sir Graeme Catto (General Medical Council),
Dame Gill Oliver, Sir Tim Chessells (Guy's and St Thomas' Charity),
Sir Nicholas Fenn (Marie Curie Cancer Care), Sir Cyril Chantler (The
King's Fund working for better health), Sir Ian and Lady Mills, Sir
Patrick Cormack, MP, Sir David and Lady Berriman.
Major-General Sir Michael Carleton-Smith, Sir Peter and Lady Cazalet,
the Rev Professor Owen Chadwick, OM, KBE, Lady Condon, Sir William and
Lady Doughty, Lady Downward, Sir Philip Goodhart, Sir James Gowans, Sir
Andrew Huxley, OM, Sir Aaron Klug, OM, and Lady Klug, Lady Niven, Sir
Adam Ridley, Dame Marion Roe, Mr Peter Bottomley, MP, and Baroness
Bottomley of Nettlestone, Mr Kevin Gardner and Baroness Gardner of
Parkes.
Mr Rodney Bennion (chairman of the board of trustees, St
Christopher's Hospice) with Dr Gillian Ford (vice-president) trustees
and past and present members of staff; Dr Biddy Baxter, Mr Rodney
Bickerstaffe, Ms Therese Burson, Ms Patricia Barey, Professor R. L.
Carter, Professor David Clark (Lancaster University), Mr Denis Doble,
Ms Shirley du Boulay, Professor and Mrs Malcolm Forsyth, Mrs Daphne
Hamilton-Fairley, Professor G. W. Hanks (Bristol University), Professor
John Hinton, Professor Kjell Kallenberg, Mr Andrew Knight, Mgr D.
Knight.
Mrs Jacqui Lait, MP, Professor A. M. Lucas, Miss Celia Manson (Royal
College of Nursing), Professor Diane Marks-Moran, Mr Stanley Martin,
Mrs Michael Mayne, Professor Balfour Mount, Professor John Norman, Mr
and Mrs Murray Parkes, Professor B. A. J. Ponder, Mrs Enoch Powell, Mr
and Mrs John Rankine, Mrs D. Sainsbury, Mrs R. Sebag-Montefiore,
Professor Neil Small, the Very Rev Dr Stephen Smalley, Prebendary Peter
Speck, Mr James Thomson (Master of Charterhouse), Ms Katherine
Whitehorn and representatives of the Polish Embassy, the Tallow
Chandlers' Company, the Goldsmiths' Company, the National Portrait
Gallery, Bolton Hospice, Birmingham St Mary's Hospice, the Sue Ryder
Care, Leckhampton Court Hospice, the Sue Ryder Care, Thorpe Hall
Hospice, the St Catherine's Hospice, Scarborough, the Rotherham
Hospice, the St Helena Hospice, Clacton, the St Helena Hospice,
Colchester, the Martlets Hospice, Hove, the St Clare Hospice,
Hastingwood, Essex, the St Margaret's Hospice, Somerset, Harris
Hospice Care, Orpington, Kent, the Eden Valley Hospice Carlisle, St
Gemma's Hospice, Leeds, Widsom Hospice, Rochester, St Michael's
Hospice, Hereford, Strathcarron Hospice, Denny, Waveney Hospice Care,
Suffolk, the Princess Alice Hospice, Esher, the Countess of Brecknock
Hospice, Andover, Springhill Hospice, Rochdale, Hospiscare, Exeter, St
Richard's Hospice, Worcester, the Peace Hospice, Watford, Richard
House Children's Hospice, the Marie Curie Care Hospice, Hampstead, St
Joseph's Hospice, London E8, the Prospect Hospice, Swindon, the Dove
House Hospice, Hull, Acorn Children's Hospice, Birmingham, St
Bridget's Hospice, Isle of Man, Pathways Home Health and Hospice,
Sunnyvale, California, Rowans Hospice, the Heart of Kent Hospice,
Farleigh Hospice, Chelmsford, Greenwich and Bexley Cottage Hospice, the
Countess of Brecknock Hospice Trust, BELHospice, Serbia, the Hospice of
Hope, Rumania, Marymount Hospice, Sisters of Charity, Cork, the Ellenor
Hospice at Home, Dartford, Kent, Priscilla Bacon Lodge, Norfolk, St
Ann's Hospice, Cheadle, Cheshire, Helen and Douglas House, Oxford,
Trinity Hospice, Clapham Common, London, Isabel Hospice, Welwyn Garden
City, Grove House and the Robert Runcie Hospice, Hertfordshire, Demelza
House Children's Hospice, Sittingbourne, the Chestnut Tree
Children's Hospice, Arundel, Sir Michael Sobell Hospice, Oxford,
Lewis-Manning House, Poole, St Francis Hospice, Romford, the Phyllis
Tuckwell Hospice, the Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead, St Wilfrid's
Hospice, Eastbourne, Gifts Day Hospice, Grantham, the Marie Curie
Hospice, Solihull, St Rocco's Hospice, Warrington, the East Cheshire
Hospice, Weston Hospice Care, Weston-super-Mare, St Lazarus Hospice,
Krakow.
Fondazione Floriani, the Stockholm Lans Museum, the National Florence
Nightingale Foundation, Rugby School, the Old Roedeanians'
Association, Datchelor Old Girls' Club, the Association for
Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland, MacMillan Cancer
Relief, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Sue Ryder Care, Breathlessness
Research Charitable Trust, the Foundation for the Study of Infant
Deaths, the Wolfson Foundation, the Hospice Education Institute, the
Irish Hospice Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organisation, the International
Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement, the Madison Deane
Initiative, Vermont, United States, the Institute of Medical Ethics,
CARE, the National Council for Palliative Care Consultancy
International, the Association of Palliative Care Social Workers,
Hospice Forum, Denmark, Cancer Relief, India, the Medical Aid for
Poland Fund, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki,
Helsinki University, Palliative Care HSE NE Areas, Co Louth, Ireland,
the Royal Marsden NHS Consultants Palliative Care, Pembridge Palliative
Care Day Centre, Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust, St Thomas'
NHS Trust, Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust, Bromley Primary Care NHS Trust,
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Cancer Care Policy Unit,
Department of Health, the Nuffield Foundation, Northern Ireland Hospice
Care, Belfast, the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute, Liverpool, St
Christopher's Hospice Shop, Hayes, Kent, St Christopher's Charity
Shop Hemsey Green, the Alfred and Peggy Harvey Charitable Trust, the
Friends Committee, St Thomas' Hospital, the Florence Nightingale
Museum, St Thomas' NHS Nurses, the Buddhist Hospice Trust, the
Sisters of Charity, Hackney, London, the Sisters of St Andrew, St
Wilfrid's Convent, London, St Julian's Community, Cookham, the
Wives Fellowship, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Care, LMU IZP Klinikum
Universitat, Munchen, the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund,
King's College, University of London, the African Palliative Care
Association, APCA, the International Association for Hospice and
Palliative Care, the Bloomsbury International Society with many other
friends, former colleagues and representatives of other organisations
from the UK and overseas having connection with Dame Cicely.
***