In a close-knit community in Kenton, there are some people who have become far more than neighbours. They become part of the fabric of a place – familiar faces, friendly voices and people whose presence makes a community feel like home.
For 37 years, that person was Maureen.
Maureen
Maureen loved her home, a lovely bungalow on a corner plot, with her garden to look after and endless countryside and fields stretching out behind her. She was a true country person through and through – hardworking, generous and someone who always believed that if you made an effort and treated people well, it would come back to you.
She often said, “What goes around comes around.”
It seems it was a phrase that summed Maureen up perfectly.
Maureen’s daughter, Jennifer explains: “She loved living in Kenton and was incredibly grateful to Teign Housing. Whenever the workforce came to visit, she would often make them treats, and she appreciated the care they took around her home and garden. They even carefully cut around her flowers and plants.”
Maureen was famous among her neighbours for her homemade jam. Strawberry was a particular favourite, but she also made apple and blackberry, apricot and even chilli jam, happily sharing her creations with those around her. Her newest neighbours, Jim and Bev, were welcomed to the community by Maureen and they in turn became good neighbours.
For great-grandchildren Natalie & Daniel, Maureen’s strawberry jam holds a particularly special place in their hearts. Their mother, Ali, has saved the last pot Maureen ever made, with plans to open it next year on the anniversary of her passing, when the family will come together for a cream tea in her memory.
Maureen also had a wicked sense of humour and a personality that stayed with people.
Long time friend Vonny worked alongside her at a residential home and remembers her as the first person she worked with there. Their friendship lasted more than 30 years. They shared a birthday, went to bingo together with Barbara, her other good friend, and shared countless laughs.
“She had a wicked sense of humour,” Vonny recalls. “She was a real character and said it how it is, right to the end.”
Maureen’s homemade sloe gin also became legendary. Vonny’s children affectionately called her “Moonshine Maureen” – a nickname that stuck after Maureen’s homemade sloe gin made quite an impression.
“I may have overdone it on my 50th birthday!” Vonny laughs.
There were countless stories. Little memories that, taken together, paint a picture of a woman who was funny, generous, independent and deeply loved.
When Maureen sadly passed away, the community felt her absence enormously.
Shane, who has lived in the community for nine years, never had the chance to meet Maureen’s husband, Ron, but had heard plenty of stories. One of the favourites was about the pheasants that would regularly appear at their back door. Ron’s response was always to direct them towards the oven!
Maureen and Ron
But it was Maureen herself who made a real and lasting impression on Shane.
On a personal level, Shane reflects on how much Maureen meant to him: “Maureen had a profound impact on my life from the moment we met. It was over the offer of two pints of semi-skimmed milk and the love of gardening. Our friendship began and became a bond that would never be broken.
“Maureen was a special lady, a beautiful soul who always believed in doing the right thing – she was real though, calling a spade a spade if needed, and that’s what I loved about her. I would not call Maureen family as such; she was just there – a rock. She pulled me through many of life’s toughest times, and I would like to think I was there for her as well.
“We had our moments when we fell out but always made up, and that’s true friendship. I cannot find the words to describe this beautiful lady who I and many others will truly miss. Maureen will always have my heart and this lovely bench is a nice reminder of a beautiful person whose memory will live on.”
Shane has also been instrumental in bringing the new memorial bench to the community.
After Maureen’s passing, he approached Teign Housing with the idea of donating towards a bench in her honour.
Shane said: “It felt like the perfect way to remember someone who had spent so much of her life here and to restore something she herself had loved. I wanted something that would be here to remember Maureen, something that will be around long after I’m gone, something that will make her memory live on.”
Maureen had always enjoyed the original seating area, so bringing a new bench back to the space means that her memory can remain part of everyday community life.
It is a place where her neighbours can sit in the peace and quiet, enjoy the views and wildlife, have a chat or simply take a moment to remember her.
For Maureen’s daughters, Val and Jennifer, it will be somewhere they can return to.
Maureen’s daughter Jennifer and her husband James, and Maureen’s great-grandchildren, Natalie and Daniel
Jennifer continues: “We’ll be coming back from time to time to sit down and remember Mum, appreciate it and remember her. We were so lucky to have spent so much time here.”
There is something especially fitting about the bench so close to the fields and wildlife that Maureen loved. She grew up in the countryside and never lost that connection to nature. The garden, the flowers, the changing seasons and the wildlife beyond her home were all part of the life she cherished.
Friends Vonny, Shane and Barbara
Even her 90th birthday reflected her wonderful sense of humour. When Maureen said she didn’t want 90th birthday cards, her grandson, Nick, found the perfect solution — he sent her three 30th birthday cards instead.
The memorial bench is more than somewhere to sit. It is a place to share stories. A place to enjoy the view Maureen loved. And, perhaps most importantly, a place where the community can continue to feel connected to someone who gave so much of herself to it.
Her phrase, “What goes around comes around” feels particularly poignant now.
The kindness Maureen gave to others has come back to her in the form of a community coming together to honour her.
A bench, a garden, a view, a jar of strawberry jam waiting for a special anniversary, and a lifetime of memories.
Maureen may no longer be sitting in her garden, tending to her flowers or sharing jam with her neighbours, but her presence remains.
Every time someone sits on that bench, looks out across the fields, hears the birds or stops for a chat, there will be another opportunity to remember her.