Lucie Skipwith 1942 - 2014
Lucie, wife of my dear friend Charlie and a dear friend herself, died in December 2014. She was the most lovely and charming person, strong and determined and a good businesswoman; but also a wonderful mother, grandmother and homemaker. I was honoured to give this eulogy at her Memorial Service in Droxford Church on 19th April 2015. Lucie at my 50th birthday party in 1995 Lucie was born Marcelle Louise Othon at Cursan near Creon on 24 th November 1942, one of seven children to Maurice and Georgette Othon. Her father, who composed music, died in 1966 and her mother in 1992. Lucie had three brothers, Michel, Francois and Andre (‘Prosper’), and four sisters, including Therese and Mireille. Two of her sisters died young, one at six months and another in 1965, and Lucie’s brother Michel also died, in 1998. Lucie had a conventional schooling and then studied dressmaking. So good was she that she became a pattern cutter at the Bordeaux atelier of Ted Lapidus, a fa...