Parish of Leatherhead - Rosalind Joan Corteen

ROSALIND JOAN CORTEEN 29th November 1935 - 29th January 2024 St Michael & All Angels Mickleham Monday 26th February at 11:30 am

Funeral Service conducted by the Reverend David Williams

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERVICE AND OPENING PRAYER
by the Reverend Sandra Faccini, Parish Priest of St Michael & All Angels

HYMN: Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven

FUNERAL COLLECT

TRIBUTE given by Michael Loveridge
My friends,
I’m speaking as Rosalind’s first cousin and on behalf of other close relations including Lisa, Marion, Elaine, Kitty, Alice and my late sister, Ann, who was a close cousin and friend to Rosalind.

One of my earliest memories of Rosalind is listening with the Corteen and Loveridge families to the King’s Christmas broadcast in 1945. Rosalind was 10 and I was 12. The wireless crackled and the King’s stutter made it difficult to concentrate. I remembered looking at Rosalind across the room and thinking how tall she was, and how good looking – with her pale face and clear complexion. Her presence was that of a quiet, intelligent, self contained young person. But, as I discovered later, she had a mind of her own, and when she spoke she let you know exactly what she was thinking! Her honesty was exemplary, and we used to say that Rosalind could not tell a lie.

Rosalind was born in Putney and spent her early childhood in and around her family home in Barnes, Southwest London. But shortly after the beginning of the Second World War the family moved to Leatherhead. She attended the Lindens school in Park Rise and then Sutton High School.

When she was 8 she was introduced by a neighbour in Leatherhead to Sunday afternoon services in All Saint’s church, which proved to be the beginning of her Christian faith.

Later she trained at a London secretarial college before attaining a secretarial post in the headquarters of the Church of England Mothers' Union in Westminster-- where she remained for the whole of her working life. She had found her vocation and by this time her Christian Faith had become the bedrock of her life. We may admire her dedication and the simple life style that she adopted.

In 2009 she wrote: “My time at the Mother’s Union was, on the whole, a happy one. I made many friends there and met many able and distinguished women who were officials of the Mother’s Union. I particularly enjoyed the occasion when I was seconded to the Wives' Conference, part of the Lambeth Conference of Bishops from around the world, held in 1988. I was privileged to be Sacristan of the Mary Sumner House Chapel for my last ten years on the staff”. This statement is typically modest. We have heard from friends of hers on the staff of the Mothers' Union in those days that Rosalind was a very efficient and reliable PA that people turned to when their new fangled PC’s were playing up! I can imagine her calmly sorting things out.

She made many friends during her long life and enjoyed summer holidays with some of them. Many of you may have received holiday postcards from her.

She was always active in Leatherhead parish church. During her teenage years she joined the Youth Club and the Girl Guides. Later, she became a member of the church choir, and played the organ from time to time. She said of the choir that, “It became an important part of my church life for many years.”

In 1992 her mother, Joan, died and shortly after this Rosalind retired from the Mothers' Union and spent 7 happy years looking after her father Dick- known to some as Richard -- until he died in 1999. She then sold the family home in St Mary’s Road and bought a flat in Russell Court near the church.

She moved to Russell Court in the year 2000 and in the 18 years that followed she led a productive and happy life. She valued the privacy of her flat but made the most of opportunities to meet friends and relations in Leatherhead particularly, but also much further afield.

Also in 2000 she became interested in the Third Order of the Society of St Francis and was professed as a tertiary in 2002. The Reverend David Williams will tell you more about the Third Order, but she wrote that joining this Order, “has been a major influence in my Christian life.”

Sadly, in 2018, Rosalind became ill with a variant of the Guillain Barre Syndrome and became paralysed in her arms and hands. She spent 7 months in Epsom General hospital and St George’s Hospital, Tooting, during which time she remained stoical and hopeful. She was cured eventually, and after a short spell in a Rehab Unit near Epsom she returned to her flat with relief - and with a living-in carer.

But the long period in hospital had sapped her strength and, over the next two years, her mobility decreased until we were obliged to find a place for her in Hartfield House care home. Despite the efforts of staff in Hartfield House Rosalind found her lack of mobility deeply frustrating. She welcomed her visitors, but in recent times her general health deteriorated until on the morning of Saturday 27th January she failed to wake up and remained unconscious in Epsom hospital until she died on Monday morning the 29th January.

HYMN: Lord of All Hopefulness

OLD TESTAMENT READINGS
Ecclesiastes 3, 1-8
read by Sue Allerton, Rosalind's god-daughter
Psalm 23
read by the Reverend David Williams

HYMN: When All Thy Mercies, O My God

NEW TESTAMENT READING
Romans 8, 31-39
read by Scilla Wallis, Third Order of the Society of St. Francis

HOMILY
by the Reverend David Williams

What picture comes to your mind when someone refers to a saint?
Perhaps it's someone whose burial place or shrine is a place of pilgrimage.
Perhaps when you think of a saint, it's someone whose life was marked by outstanding piety, spirituality or sacrifice.
Perhaps we might think of the example of St. Francis of Assisi, whose rule of life was of such great value and importance to Rosalind.

The Biblical tradition presents holiness essentially as a characteristic of God. When St. Paul speaks of the saints of the early Christian communities, he means that by their identification with God, through the saving work of Jesus Christ and their willing response, they have become identified with the ultimate source of holiness and purity.

So all are called to be saints, but in the Christian tradition some people are distinguished by their particular holiness. St. Francis chose to give up his life as the son of a rich merchant, to follow Christ in a life of holy poverty and simplicity, living in accordance with the Gospel, serving the needs of others, in a special and distinctive way.

Members of the First Order of St. Francis, men and women, live in monastic communities, serving the surrounding community and often helping the homeless and others in need, after the example of St. Francis. The Second Order, the Poor Clares, lead a life of prayer in community as an enclosed order following the example of their foundress, St. Clare of Assisi, who was a follower of St. Francis.

Rosalind was a member of the worldwide Third Order of St. Francis, known as Tertiaries, which was founded by St. Francis 800 years ago. Membership of the Third Order is open to all people, lay and ordained, and Tertiaries remain in their own homes, with active careers and pursuits, serving in their local churches and beyond, observing daily devotions and meeting together regularly. Tertiaries lead their lives after the example of St. Francis under vows and a distinct discipline. There is a two year novitiate followed by life vows, with pledges that are renewed each year. Tertiaries undertake to serve Jesus Christ in prayer, study and work, to make Our Lord known to others, and to promote the ways of love and unity, in humility and with joy.

Rosalind became a novice in the year 2000 and a professed member of the Third Order two years later. The Area Minister of the Third Order, Anthony Hopkins, says of Rosalind: "We knew her for the lovely gentle soul she was, always interested in others and ready to help wherever she could. Through her conscientious service, she helped to run her local group. Rosalind pursued her calling to join the Third Order to follow Jesus Christ more closely."

On a personal note, I first met Rosalind when I moved to Leatherhead in 1983, and our friendship quickly grew. We were both quite reflective, only children who worked in London for different agencies of the Church of England, and I think this gave us some mutual understanding. For 41 years Rosalind has been a most faithful, trustworthy and diligent friend, journeying with me during times of joy and sadness, and giving me encouragement in my somewhat tortuous path towards ordination.
Rosalind was always very conscientious in keeping in contact, for example phoning to thank me for each birthday and holiday postcard she received; and taking a keen interest in all that I did.

Today I am wearing a symbol of this deep and enduring friendship, It is my white priests' stole which Rosalind gave me for my ordination as deacon in Croydon Minster in 2008 and as priest in Southwark Cathedral the following year. Normally priests wear a purple stole or sometimes a black scarf for funerals, but I think it is doubly appropriate that I am wearing this white stole, because not only is it a treasured gift but white is also the colour associated with Easter and the resurrection, and it is a powerful symbol of Rosalind's resurrection faith.

I now offer some reflections on our Bible readings, which were all chosen by Rosalind, for this service which she carefully prepared.

Our reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us how our lives are held within the whole compass of God's wonderful creation. The reading reminds us of the sheer magnitude of God's providence. It is one of the most memorable passages in the Bible and was famously set to music by that doyen of folk musicians, Pete Seeger in 1962. It's a piece of poetry that beautifully expresses the theme that there is an appointed time for all things. As the writer says: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens; a time to be born and a time to die." These words encompass the entire cycle of life. No person controls the start or finish of his or her earthly existence. God is above all and beyond all. When someone is born, the whole earth is changed because of the inter-relationship of the created order. And this is held within the greatness of God's providence and the warmth of his love.

The 23rd Psalm which is a much loved part of many of our church services, speaks of God's care of us, likened to the care of a faithful shepherd for his sheep, and it tells of green pastures, still waters, refreshment of the soul and of God's generous hospitality. It also tells us of the help and support which is always available to us through the grace of God. While things can sometimes become difficult for us in this life, as they did latterly for Rosalind, God's comfort is a constant presence and reassurance.

The last two verses of our New Testament reading from Romans are often said as verses of Scripture at the beginning of funeral services, as they give us comfort and assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus's sacrifice of himself is unique and unrepeatable, because by his saving action, we are offered for all time the gift of salvation and eternal life. This passage gives us perhaps the strongest and most eloquent statement in all the Epistles of the power and surety of God's grace and his loving care for all of us.

So I return to my initial reflection on the characteristics and qualities of a saint. There are those, like St Francis, who model the Christian faith in a way that inspires others, and provides a moral witness in a world that has become dulled to injustice. There is the more recent example of Mother Teresa who saw her life as one of complete service to the poorest in society and who gave special witness to the values of Christian charity. Yet there are many saints, like Rosalind, who give faithful, prayerful and selfless service for the good of others in the regular rhythm of daily life. What makes them saints is their capacity to do the ordinary in an extraordinary way.

May Rosalind rest in peace and rise in glory.

HYMN: The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended

PRAYERS
said by the Reverend David Williams
A prayer of thanksgiving for the life of Rosalind
A prayer for those who mourn
A prayer for our readiness to live in the light of eternity
add text

THE LORD'S PRAYER

THE COMMENDATION

THE COMMITTAL

THE NUNC DIMITTIS

HYMN: God be in My Head
sung solo by Louisa Thomas, Rosalind's god-daughter

THE BLESSING

Rosalind's ashes will be interred in the churchyard at a later date

Some of the choir of Leatherhead Parish Church, including Rosalind 2002. 

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Rosalind's funeral took place on 26 February 2024.The Choir and Organist of St Michael & All Angels were present and in good voice.
If you have any memories of Rosalind to add to this page please contact Frank Haslam, the editor of these pages.

last updated 2 Mar 2024

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