We have had some sad news that our most frequently travelled customer has died recently, and her daughter has asked if she can pay tribute to her here – amongst her beloved fellow travellers. This is her story…
57 Explore holidays in 22 years the last one in the August 2009 ‘Eastern Seaboard and Cape Cod’. For those who have travelled with and remember Shirley, she peacefully died on 21 December 2009.
Shirley first traveled with Explore when she was 63 after her husband died and her family of five were able to look after themselves!
Her first trip was to the Himalayas and since then she hasn’t stopped. She really enjoyed the way the Explore trips worked finding many friends in the different groups and making sure she got involved with the local people. She would always try to buy something on those occasions when people were weaving or making pots in their homes just to help them. Her friend Jean showed her how great it was to take an Instamatic camera and leave pictures. She insisted on bringing back an animal and a fridge magnet from every different country she visited as well as the assortment of hats, pictures, cushions, throws and other strange articles. She has a house full of memories from around the World including scrap books of pictures from every trip.
She was a very fit person, Inca Trail when she was 64, Kilimanjaro when she was 73, Camino de Santiago when she was 82 and loved to be outside looking at the scenery.
Her daughter, Pam, has been contacting Shirley’s traveling friends and has uncovered a real network of people who knew her. She thought the website might be a way of letting people know. There are really big thank-yous to Jean Yee and Jan Davie who started meeting up with Shirley on trips when she was worried (unnecessarily) that Explore wouldn’t let her travel as a single after a certain age. One email to Judith Winterbine found that her traveling guest at that time had also traveled with and shared a room with Shirley.
Pam had first hand experience of ‘Shirley on tour’ when she traveled with her to Bolivia. As they went through passport control at La Paz airport she was already going through past holidays with Brian who recognized her from a trip and then later Julie. All 3 had been on the same trip before.
And a really big thankyou to Explore for giving Shirley such an interest in her later life. Shirley has had time to reflect on her past life over the last couple of months and described it as being in 3 parts. The first 25 years before she got married (school, radio engineer in the Wrens, working in the pharmacy), 38 years bringing up a very close family and the last 22 years traveling. She enjoyed all of it, had no regrets and was very content and peaceful at the end.
Tags: shirley meacock
I have had the privilege of traveling with Shirley on at least 5 Explore trips and we were planning for Tequila Express this February. My heart is broken that Shirley has passed on as someone so special can never be replaced. She was the perfect role-model for growing older and she had a endless supply of energy. Even in our last trip together in 2008 to Morocco, Shirley led the group and stayed at the heels of the tour leader as we treked up the side of the Toros. Shirley had quite the spirit of adventure – how many people in their 80’s much less younger will take on an Explore itinerary with such relish? I really feel Shirley’s loss and am thankful that I have five wonderful trips to re-live and keep her spirit alive!
I’ve seen another side of Shirley to that of the traveller. We were bridge partners for 12 or more years at Kenilworth Bridge Club, .having started the partnership when we were both Associate Members, playing on a Monday (Associate only) evening. I moved on to Full Membership but she liked the relaxed atmosphere of Monday’s too much to make the change. However we continued to play on Thursday evenings. She would drive from Daventry to Kenilworth. I can’t recall a time when she called off due to the weather.
She was somewhat nervous as a bridge player – totally different to the obvious confidence showed by her many travels – mainly I think due to her fear of letting down her partner. She could never seem to realise how good a player she was.
In all the years together I can’t remember her ever getting angry or showing any frustration when I made mistakes. I put that down to the fact that she saw it purely as a game to enjoy. And in that there was a clear connection to the Shirley that enjoyed her travels.
When she rang and told me some weeks ago that she “felt off” and was thinking of giving up the bridge, I should have realised that it was something serious. She urged me to find a new partner but I said I’d leave it a while in case she changed her mind.
She never did.
What an amazing lady! What a wonderful life she has had. She was already 80 and worrying about insurance when I shared a room with her in Croatia. She has had a wonderful life, lived to the full, and what a wonderful ambassador for Explore Worldwide.
My husband and I also knew Shirley through playing bridge. We first met her in 1992 when we all joined an evening class to learn to play bridge. Shirley came along with her daughter to the class but Pam didn’t seem as interested as her mother? Following the classes, most of the us wanted to carry on playing bridge and through the teacher, Rosemary Randerson, we joined Kenilworth Bridge Club where we met up with Shirley each Monday evening to play this wonderful game of bridge. We always liked to hear of her recent travels which she made very interesting and she had our utmost admiration. Shirley was a lovely, warm lady and we are very saddened to hear of her death and shall certainly miss her from the Bridge Club.