Obituary to Pat Jayawardena

I first met Pat in 1988. That was about five years before she joined the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club. At that time we occasionally attended events at the Grotto Club in Golden Square, some of which were ably organised by Pat herself. Some other members of the rambling club also attended the Grotto and in 1993 Pat joined the ranks of the ramblers herself. As she approached retirement she felt walking would be an easy pasttime to take up in retirement. However after one of her first walks, which I thought was one of the easiest I had put on the programme she joked that I had driven her so hard it nearly killed her!!

However she persisted with the walking and in 1994 joined us on the club's holiday in Killarney whech was demanding for all of us and Pat stuck with it throughout the week, when we had difficult walks up Ireland's highest mountain, Carantoohill, another steep mountain named "Purple Mountain" and a demanding walk from Killarney to the Black Valley on which we carried rucksacks containing our needs for three nights in the Black Valley Hostel.

Pat took her full part in all those activities and her famous smile never left her face. Her elaborately decorated walking stick was quite a celebrity during the week. Some photographs taken on the holiday can be seen HERE.

Following that Pat did not ramble very often but on one memorable occasion in 1997 she jointly led the Christmas Ramble with Maureen Cahalane and entertained nearly 40 of us ramblers to a generous Christmas buffet at her home in Richmond at the end of the walk.

Although not a frequent rambler Pat maintained regular contact with some club members.  In 2020 we received the distressing news that she had been diagnosed with cancer which turned out to be terminal. Then in late 2021 we heard that she had moved into a hospice and on 15 December 2021 she was taken to her eternal reward. She had been a bright spot on the world for all of us who knew her and she brought much love and happiness to us all. May she rest in everlasting peace.

Her funeral service took place on Thursday 20 January 2022. It was streamed online and can be seen up to about the middle of February. The link to the streaming is in the service booklet, a pdf of which can be seen HERE.

TONY FINNEGAN