This time our Ted Talk is a sad one. In previous articles, I have shared Ted’s stories about his wife, Baryl (technically spelled “Beryl” but always pronounced “Baryl” by Ted). I regret to announce that she passed away on the morning of Friday 31st May. Ted and Baryl had been married for almost 57 years.

The staff at the Melton House Care Home, where she resided, let Ted know that her health was deteriorating and the end was near. He was with her all through her final night and they held each other’s hand. She was in pain, and the nurses gave her injections to treat this, so that she could depart from this world in peace.

Ted told me with his tearful eyes, “Words cannot express…”

He appreciates how kind people have been to him in the church, in the town, and in the community, both in recent months and now at his time of grief. Yet, he greatly misses the devotion of his wife, a love that he does not have the words for, a love way beyond any description he could possibly give.

“We were never a lovey-dovey couple,” said Ted, “we agreed at the start that we would love each other like brother and sister. We were independent people with our own lives and our own interests, but we shared them with each other; that’s how our marriage worked.”

Ted and Baryl did not have children; they did have a family of ducks, geese, and rabbits and a love of the great outdoors. Their shared passion for the natural world was reflected in Baryl’s many artistic endeavours. She was a highly prolific painter of nature until her last years when the dementia took hold.

Yet, in her final days, she began to draw again and to take photographs of flowers. Ted is very proud of his wife for these achievements and he gladly showed me some of her works. In the photo above, she drew the red roses she saw on a greetings card onto the back of an envelope. Words cannot express…