Philippa Anne Taber née Trump: RIP
In memory of my beloved wife, Philippa, who died in hospital on the 14th June 2016 after a long struggle with a complex medical condition.
Philippa was an intelligent and loving person. She was very caring of others, and generous – putting a lot of thought into planning presents.
Philippa had many interests. She enjoyed painting and sketching, and writing poetry and stories, and trying out a wide range of crafts. She loved organising her outfits and had a strong interest in interior design. She was a 'visual person' who thought the shade of paint on the front door mattered, and who enjoyed colourful events such as the Lord Mayor's Parade and the Trooping of the Colour. She enjoyed watching coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon and Royal Ascot (she fitted the traditional notion of the name Philippa meaning 'a lover of horses'). She also enjoyed quiz programmes and programme about antiques, religion, art, current affairs, and politics. She was interested in science, especially biology. She took GCSE physics evening classes and studied chemistry GCSE after not having selected those subjects for study at school. She enjoyed a range of music, and the occasional crossword. She regularly read and shared contemporary literature. She enjoyed movies – and especially liked watching Christmas films (even the poor ones) in the run up to Christmas. She loved Christmas, and made dressing the tree into an art form. She also really enjoyed fireworks. She could take great pleasure in a slice of apple pie, and – when allowed – a hot chocolate drink.
Whilst working in insurance she qualified as ACII and obtained the Advanced Financial Planning certificate with the Chartered Insurance Institute – at a time when very few women in the industry were so qualified. She took (and passed) sufficient papers in a sitting to qualify for ACII across only two rounds of examination – something one of her senior (male) colleagues had advised her was just not feasible.
After having to give up work due to ill health (and having previously had to withdraw from teacher training college – again due to illness) she challenged herself by studying with the Open University: obtaining her BSc, PGCert in Social Sciences, and PGDiploma in Education.
Although very fond of Harold Wood where her family had lived and where she had attended school, Philippa loved Cambridge, and in particular living in Cambourne – especially when spying fluffy chicks, butterflies, rabbits and dragonflies in the eco and country parks. She enjoyed the lakes and the woods – the latter especially when the bluebells were in bloom in Spring. She enjoyed sitting in the shade in our garden in the Summer, when the lavender was releasing its scent and the bees were visiting the passion flower. She especially enjoyed Autumn – and marking her birthday with a trip.
In healthier days she enjoyed driving her car and did not fully appreciate my unease when travelling in traffic (yet she was a somewhat nervous passenger on occasions when I took the controls of a boat!) Sidmouth in Devon, the locus of many of her family holidays, had a special place in her heart. She enjoyed planning outings and our holidays included a diverse range of visits to see windmills, a butterfly centre, a model village, quite a few stately homes, a priory, palaces, a gold mine, steam railways, an observatory, and a lot more – once, even a nuclear power station. She carefully curated photograph albums to document our various trips.
She suffered too much, and died much too young – but lived an engaged and cultured life.
She is deeply missed.
