My wife and I both met Mary Rose after first meeting Gilles at Wembley Junior High School in the early seventies where he was a language assistant. There are some people you meet in life who are always calm and composed in whatever situation you encounter them. They are not governed by impulse or distracted by things beyond their control and are not inclined to lose their temper or buckle under stress when faced with difficult decisions or events. Mary Rose was one of those people: she always had a quiet aura around her and when talking to her she never interrupted and you felt that she was listening to your every word. Uninterested in imposing herself on anyone or impressing them with her knowledge, insight and intelligence, which was formidable, she was self-contained but empathetic and compassionate and was a great joy and asset in anyone’s company. Gilles and Mary Rose visited me in the south of France in the early years of the new millennium when I was recovering from a serious illness. She was interested in my condition and offered consoling words but there was no mention of her own illness. She was a beacon of light and my wife and I feel privileged that some of it shone on us. Rest in Peace MR. Neil and Brenda Ritchie