Mother Joan gave me the strength to face life

MY father joined the British merchant navy at age 19 in 1944.

He saw Bombay harbour in flames. He never recovered and any aeroplane overhead or loud noise would cause him to fall on the ground in terror.

First my mother died of alcohol poisoning and then my father died a few years later. So it was with trepidation that, as a non-Catholic, I arrived at the Good Shepherd Convent in Durban, South Africa, to be met at the door by Joan Agnes McFadden – Mother Joan to the girls. “When Irish eyes are smiling, all the world seems bright and gay” ... that was her truth, for she gave us love, laughter, joy, fairness and the skills to face life.