Sr Edna Brice

We were very saddened to hear of the death of Sr Edna Brice who died on Sunday 11th October, 2009, aged 84.

Eddy was born and grew up in Launceston, Cornwall and was always proud of her Cornish roots.   During her childhood she had Stills Disease, (childhood arthritis) which affected the development of her hands and damaged the ligaments in her hands and arms.  She lived a full and healthy adult life, never letting her disabled hands and arms stop her from doing what she wanted. 

As a teenager she joined the Guides which became a passion for her all through her life.  She ran Guide companies wherever she lived.  She designed a course for Catholic Guides to work for a Catholic badge.  She also organised many training weekends for Guiders.  She only stopped attending these weekends when her health began to deteriorate.  Guiding gave Eddy great joy throughout her life.  She would have loved the events celebrating the centenary of Guiding this year.

In her early twenties Eddy became a Catholic and began to feel called to Religious Life.   She was living and working in Bath at the time and wasn’t too happy with this call. However, she took a 'sick day' off work in order to travel to London where there was a Vocations Exhibition.  On her way she argued with God, saying ‘Lord, I will have a look round the exhibition, but I am not giving up Guides’.  At the exhibition, she saw one stall with a picture of a sister with a Guide company.  That was the stall belonging to the Sisters of Sion, and she knew then that Sion was the place for her.

Eddy joined the congregation in 1954, and made her noviciate at Acton Burnell in Shropshire.  She worked as a Secretary in the Bayswater and Acton Burnell Schools.  When the Bayswater school closed in the 1970s she went to work at St Mary’s College, Strawberry Hill where she had a resource room for students on teaching practice.  Many a student went to Eddy to ask for help for their RE lessons.  She always had time and patience for students who were struggling.  When she retired from St Marys she worked at our Centre for Jewish Christian relations in London.   

 
In 1992, there was a need for a sister to move to our community in Leeds and Eddy volunteered to go.   She soon got involved in the parish and the parish school, particularly helping newly qualified staff, and giving extra help to children who struggled with reading and maths.  Years later a teenager came to sit next to Eddy on the bus, and said ‘Sr Edna, you taught me to read when I was 7, and now I am studying English at A Level, I am so grateful for your help’.

 
Eddy was very sociable and was known by many people in Middleton, our area of Leeds.  She was greatly loved by the parish.  Eddy was making plans for and looking forward to her Golden Jubilee which was to be in January 2006.  However, in the summer of 2005 Eddy became seriously ill, and was in hospital in Leeds for several weeks.  Eventually she was transferred to Rustington Hall Nursing Home near Worthing which had the specialist nursing care she needed.

Eddy loved gardens and flowers.  In Leeds, people walking along the road would stop at our garden to admire the wonderful flowers there.  Eddy was also instrumental in renewing a garden at the nursing home which was appreciated by the residents and the staff. 

Eddy has one sister, Valerie, whom she often talked about.  She was very proud of her niece, Jennifer, who, like Eddy was very committed to the Guides.

Eddy had a great faith in God, and a love of the congregation and our charism.  She didn’t pay close attention to rules and often spoke her mind.   She always took the side of those who were finding life difficult, whether it was a child at school, or a student, or a young novice, or an elderly person at the Help the Aged shop in Leeds.

I remember a conversation with Eddy about heaven.  She said that her idea of heaven was sitting outside her tent at a Guide camp, in the evening, at the end of a long day, with the Guides singing round the camp fire. (Anne Lee)