Eulogy for Diana Klein

Diana with two friends

The funeral Mass of Diana Klein took place at the Church of the Sacred Heart & Mary Immaculate Mill Hill on Monday, 10th January - attended by family and friends and watched by many more people around the world online. Her son Nicholas wrote this moving eulogy which was read during the service. We will be publishing a full obituary and more tributes soon.

To know Mom was to love Mom. She had a pure and generous heart and she enjoyed elevating and helping others.

She believed that God is love and she offered hers unconditionally to so many.

Several friends have explained to me how one of her greatest gifts was how hospitable she was, welcoming people to our home and enjoying making them meals to share.

Many people perceived Mom as a maternal figure, which is the highest praise, and was a source of enormous pride for her.

A friend of ours suggested that instead of counting sheep, that she could count all the good wishes people were sending to her. It made her smile, that big beautiful and totally sincere smile that offered so many of us comfort and strength.

There are several chapters to Mom's life. She started life in New York. Excelling at languages and art as a student. She was an exceptional photographer and often made gifts of the moments she had captured.

When the opportunity to travel around Europe with a job in London arose in the early 1970s she grabbed it with both hands. She bought her self a little red sports car and a white horse and she seized the day! With a gentle inner strength and determination she sought to make hers and others lives extraordinary.

She met Dad riding that horse. Then I was born. She spent the next 15 or 20 years working in the corporate world where she was a great mediator and in all ways advocated for her staff passionately.

We met the White Fathers (a group of missionaries) in the late 1980's when we became friends with several of the students and staff at St Edward's in Totteridge. Over the next 10 years we travelled around various parts of Africa. This inspired Mom, and encouraged her to go back to college and study theology with a focus on communication and teaching. This led her to doing work as a catechist which in turn led her to working for the diocese of Westminster and ultimately as a parish practice editor for the Tablet.

She had great patience as both a listener and an editor, which gave many people assurance and self-confidence. Part of her gift as a listener, came from her own experience of being Catholic. She had at times moved away from the Church but she felt called back, and while loving her faith, she was also a critical friend of the Church, and this combination helped many others to stay within it or return to it. She initiated and contributed to discussions with both knowledge and wisdom. Finally, she loved God's work, including his creation, and this was expressed in her love of animals and especially her own dogs. She put this to good use, not only looking after her own salukis, but also editing the Saluki owners' newsletter.

We undertook a spiritual, philosophical and literal journey together over the last 45 years. She showed me the world, and taught me how to navigate it and now she's gone and I miss her terribly.

I know that you would be pleased that people all over the planet are sending their love. Some of the warmth we absorbed from you is flowing back towards you.

Today is our chance to say thank you for the way you brightened our lives.

Watch a recording of the funeral here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKKlMHry31M