Murray Ceff's Blog

Just a short note to let you know that my mother died very early in the morning (about 1.00am) of June 22, 2011. She was 83 years old at the time. The funeral service is to be held at St Andrews Uniting Church, Sydney Pde, East Geelong at 2.30pm on Monday 27 June. She went peacefully, after a few days of being barely conscious. My sister, Laurel, was with her at the time. We took turns in staying with her since 2.30am on the previous Sunday. I was there within a few minutes of her dying and I stayed with her until the undertaker came to collect her body. It was a relief to know that she has gone somewhere better. I hope and believe that her parents, who have been sealed in the Temple, were there to take her to her heavenly home.

My mother (Jean Shirley Riach Ceff) is 30 years older than I am. She is 83 and I am 53, so she turns 84 on April 11 2012 and I turn 54 on October 4 this year 2011. I don't think she will live to celebrate another birthday though. Mum has not enjoyed a great quality of life the last few years. She has battled breast cancer, and two strokes over the last 25 years or so. Neither of those things will kill her though. A few months ago we decided that we should perhaps do something about a few skin cancers that had grown on her face. Two of them, one on her nose and one on her forehead, were removed in the plastic surgeon's surgery just using a local anaesthetic. It was quite painful at the time for Mum and the surgeon joked that she cleared their waiting room with her screams as he injected the local anaesthetic. She recovered quite quickly and her face healed quite well. But there was one skin cancer just under her right eye. Injecting a local anaesthetic there would have been