Katherine Mary Cave (6 Jul 1944 - 22 Sep 2022)

-- My Mum –
By Mary-Anne

Mum was born at home at Fountain Lane, High Ham on Thursday 6th July in 1944 and was the only child to Maurice and Mary Gould
She enjoyed a happy school life at High Ham primary school with lots of friends who also lived in the village. At the age of 11 Mum went to Huish Episcopi secondary school and made lots of new friends.
When mum left secondary school she started work at Clarks shoe factory in Street, quite a few of her friends also got jobs there. Every day she would catch a mini bus from the Kings Head pub in High Ham (Maisy’s) to get to work where she learned to make shoes and boots. I always remember mum telling me stories of when she and her work colleagues would be asked to make newly designed boots and once made given the opportunity to wear the boots to test their wear ability. Mums favourite boot was the ‘above the knee’ boot and she would make sure she would put extra stitching in them to ensure they lasted.
Mum and her friend Shelia would wear the boots they had made on nights out on the town and be the envy of all the local girls!
In 1967 mum and dad were set up on a blind date at an Englebert Humperdinck concert in Taunton at what is now the Bingo Hall. After realising that she didn’t stand a chance with Englebert, she asked dad out on a second date. On their second date mum told dad that she had found her perfect man and that he was the one that she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with.
Sure enough on the 30th March in 1968 they were married in the Church at High Ham, then spent a few days in Swanage on their honeymoon.
Four months later Mum gave birth to my sister, Sarah who was sadly born disabled. Mum, Dad and mums parents bought and moved into a house in Mill Road, High Ham and mum became a full time carer for Sarah.
On the 15th August 1977, mum gave birth to her second daughter, me (Mary-Anne). Mum loved nothing more than spending time with dad, me and my sister, particularly whilst on camping holidays, I have such lovely memories of the four of us hitching up the caravan and visiting lots of lovely places throughout England when my sister and I were growing up.
I also went to High Ham primary school and during this time I remember mum getting involved in various school activities, like Jumble sales and other fundraising events. I’ll always remember mum joining in with the school plays, becoming part of the cast and singing along with the other mums, I’ll never forget her singing along to the song – ‘English Country Garden’.
Mum loved village life, she particularly liked attending Tupperware and Avon parties that were run by various friends in the village, I remember my dad getting annoyed when she would come home with ‘another type of lipstick’, or ’another Tupperware container’!
On the 24th January 1994 Sarah sadly passed away unexpectedly and within a year both mums parents past away too. Within two years we sold the family home in High Ham and moved to a bungalow at Walnut Drive in Somerton, around the same time mum and dad bought a Campervan and then travelled around exploring more parts of England and meeting new people, this time with their two dogs Dakota and Memphis.
In 2011 mum asked me to find them a new bungalow as she wanted to be closer to me, Nick and our soon to be born Daughter Amelia. I found a bungalow at Abbey Close in Curry Rival, as soon as mum saw it she immediately fell in love. Mum and dad bought the bungalow and moved in at Easter 2011. A month later her first grandchild Amelia was born. I remember mum being a very happy, doting grandmother loving nothing more than looking after Amelia whilst I worked during the day, occasionally Amelia would stay overnight. Amelia often talks about how much she loved to sleepover at Granny’s, she would make Granny tickle the inside of her arm with her long nails and wouldn’t let her stop until Amelia was ready for Granny to stop.
In 2015 mum’s second grandchild, Henry was born. I know that she was very proud of me and especially her two grandchildren, she would often talk about us and our achievements to friends and even people she had only just met.
Over the years, since the passing of Sarah, mums health deteriorated and she lost a lot of her mobility which stopped her doing a lot of the things she loved to do, in particular gardening. This didn’t stop her from enjoying her other loves in life, her grandchildren, puzzle books, watching TV dramas, she enjoyed flowers and not forgetting her love for a good scarf!!
Mum loved spending Christmas day with dad at our house and would always comment on how good Nicks cooking was, whilst at the same time giving him her words of wisdom on how he could improve.
Mum sadly passed away on the 22nd of September and will be missed by everyone that knew her, especially her family, Mervyn – her devoted husband of 54 years (never a cross word!!), Nick, Amelia and Henry, her beloved dog (Ted) and of course me.
Mum, I am going to miss you telling me all the stories from the years gone by and I will miss you and love you forever.