This picture shows my father and my grandfather - William Ernest Howitt - both of them Regimantal Sergeant Major of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards in their day.Sadly, I don't remember my grandfather very well because he'd been gassed in the trenches in France in the 1914-18 War and he was never a well man after that. He died when I was a toddler. He used to call me "Poppy".
My dad had plenty of time to prepare himself for death - he lived for 5 years after being diagnosed with chronic lymphatic leukaemia in 1980, following a freak accidental exposure to agricultural chemicals, and was in full possession of his faculties until the end.
He had a stong belief in the continued existence of the soul after dying and in his final years often referred to his body as "the old overcoat".
His death was much harder for me to take than Kath's, partly because we were much closer spiritually and I guess, too, it's harder to part with someone who is still fully "there" with you until the last.
He had always insisted I get a good education because his own schooling was unsatisfactory - something he had to rectify later in life in the army. He wasn't going to see me go the same route, and he set an example by always being open to learning new stuff. "Knowledge" was his motto.
He used to tell me that we are like tapes, and the more learning and knowledge we have on our tape when we die, the better. At the time he passed away down in Hamilton in August 1985, 2 days off his 70th birthday, he was talking of learning about and getting into the world of computing. This background will help you understand the communication I'll describe in my next post.
Framed Art Prints and Posters by Patricia Howitt @ Artflakes
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