I knew Jennifer from her babyhood ... I have so many happy memories of Jennifer that I now feel privileged and grateful to have.
I have known her all her life and from her earliest lively years she has been a source of pleasure to see and to be with ... all your friends will remember Jennifer's warm and sparkling personality.
I have many fond memories of holidays in Anglesey. Jennifer was always the lively and mischievous one.
As you know, Jennifer and I were brought up very close together. She played an enormous part in my childhood, and I have so many memories of her at Adam's Hill, Strand-on-the-Green, Edwardes Square and Bodior. The sense of loss is huge – as if I had lost a sister.
My memories of Jennifer are and always will be clear and pleasurable. They go back to the very beginning. In many ways she was the elder sister that I always wanted, and much more besides – sensitive, kind, good humoured, generous, principled and wise. She was also enormous fun. She always listened and never imposed herself. She was incredibly loyal. Being with her was always a delight – she was wonderful company.
Having known Jennifer since earliest memories ... they are all happy ones: she would be serious and firm-minded if anything needed to be done, but there was plenty to enjoy and have fun about. Jennifer's laugh seemed always the most distinctive and infectious.
I just want to say how I remember her, which is full of life and laughter; I keep getting flashbacks to our happy childhood days at Adam's Hill, when she was so wonderfully in charge and got us all dressing up and acting all those plays ...
So many images of Jennifer are flooding through my mind, starting with the first time I saw her, at Adam's Hill aged about two, those large expressive dark brown eyes and smiley face, regarding everyone with great interest and obviously taking in everything the grown-ups were saying ... looking angelic on the stage in the Chelsea Nativity Christmas pageant ... dressing up in Edwardes Square and making up a play to present to anyone who was there ... looking happy and serene at your wedding. And so many thoughts jostling into my mind of Jennifer in recent years – music at Blenheim Crescent, weekends at Farnborough, skiing at Risoul, and always Jennifer's, Jennifer's lovely brown eyes and smiling face.
She was so brave and dignified throughout her illness, and indeed that is how I shall always remember her as we were growing up; always calm, practical and dignified, and great fun to be with. She will be greatly missed as the one who kept all channels of communication open between the different branches of the family.
Jennifer was always someone I really looked forward to seeing: she was of course extremely sensible, reliable and level-headed, a wonderful person to talk things over with. But the other side of her made her so attractive too – her love of a good gossip, her amazing boldness in dress, and a sense of humour which always made our meetings such fun.
I keep thinking of her lovely sense of humour and hearing her giggle, and feel quite bemused at the brevity of Life.
Jennifer was a very dear friend to me and I shall always have a very special place for her in my heart. Over the years she tried to sort out my problems – a never-ending task – and I thank her for that. She was always great company, especially on her trips up to Bodior. She was very much part of the scene, wedged between her rocks with her bikinis on, reading and dozing; she liked nothing better than to swim down from Fisherman's Hut in the current ... Hugo you have some good memories of a wonderful wife, friend and a very good mother to your three dear sons. She was so proud of them all ...
I remember her up at Bodior, always full of energy and fun, mischief even. A good mother, and I hope your boys, now men, are a consolation.
I think that what made her so remarkable was a rare combination of qualities. She always appeared reasonable and level-headed about things and therefore I suspect gained few enemies, but she had plenty of gaiety and sparkle and held opinions which she was not afraid to state.
It is hard to believe that such a vibrant character is gone. She will not be difficult to remember. She had a remarkable sense of fun and a distinctive style of dress that will endure in the memory.
Jennifer was a wonderful person whom I greatly admired and whose company I so much enjoyed ... I felt that she was a true friend; friendships are something very precious and quite irreplaceable. Jennifer is irreplaceable.
Looking back over the years I have memories of such happy occasions here and in Blenheim Crescent – times when we have got together and talked and argued and, most of all, laughed. Jennifer, in her wonderful clothes, was tremendously good company. I think her strength was that she enjoyed it all so much. I think she was one of those people who got the best out of whatever she was doing, which is a very valuable gift.
I remember so well first meeting Jennifer on a wet Sunday in the communal garden. She looked stunning, despite the rain, and was accompanied by two small boys in red mackintoshes – one, I think, in a push chair.
Do you remember meeting on a train somewhere between Oxford and Hereford very soon after your marriage? I retain such a strong impression of Jennifer's infectious joie de vivre and humour from that moment.
Jennifer was such a lovely cheerful person with such a wonderful individual laugh which we loved hearing and remembering. She was so well able to take part in so many things and bring them to life. She had so many talents and was able to use them without making the rest of us feel inadequate.
I always admired Jennifer for her dynamic personality, her laugh and her friendliness.
We will always remember her as a vibrant and fun-loving person, particularly at the family events we have been to, such as our wedding.
When I first met Jennifer I found her very warm and friendly and I am happy to have known her.
Although I had only been married for three months ... I can remember noticing how exceptionally attractive Jennifer was in every way. I shall always picture her not only smiling but actually laughing – she had an infectious gaiety about her that clearly made her the ideal wife and mother.
Jennifer was so talented and such fun and we all had such a marvellous time in our youth – long will I remember her lovely, infectious laugh and the slinky black leather outfits – I can hear her chuckle now.
What I remember most vividly is her laughter – her almost unfailing, it seemed, good humour; and the delight she took in music, food, company.
She was a wonderful friend, and I loved her practical, cheerfully cynical, but always charitable ways.
I thought of her wonderful gift of humour and laughter and fun. How she used to laugh at the absurdities of her friends without malice; how she lit up a room with her smile; how glad one always was to see her. How she cultivated her friendships, as one saw at her funeral.
Jennifer's sense of fun, her practical kindness, her intelligence and her vivacity were a joy to all of us who were lucky enough to know her.
I admired particularly Jennifer's constant support given freely to you and her lovely sense of humour.
Jennifer, in all the twenty-odd years I was lucky enough to know her, was that rare find, a best friend. Always supportive, totally sincere with an enviable understanding of this life in all its ups and downs.
She was very special to me. In spite of the ups and downs of university life we laughed most of the way through it all. There is no doubt that Jennifer was 'cool'! She was always practical, never flapped and was always ready to see the funny side of things. She loved life, loved gossip, loved people and was always a very loyal friend.
Jennifer always radiated warmth, humour and a very sound, sensible approach to matters, a lovely reliable friend. She was a pearl beyond price.
I have very happy memories of her during my childhood, and I will always remember her as a very joyful and loving person.
I will miss her dry wit and her sense of the ridiculous – she was intelligent and special.
Jennifer was a remarkable person, a real individual and I wish I had known her better. I shall remember her particularly as a vital part of those W11 opera days and what fun it was with her great sense of humour.
I always thought Jennifer was a major character as well as strongly humorous, stylish and generally indomitable.
I thought of her as a life-enhancing and amusing person. I can hardly believe she is no longer with us.
I always loved seeing her, and she was always so cheerful and funny and nice to be with and I remember your drinks parties with much happiness. Everyone in the village seems to be terribly shaken and upset – as I am.
She was to us and our children just part of W11 and it is difficult to imagine that we won't see her again.
Jennifer was such a big part of all we enjoyed in the Garden.
What can one say except that Jennifer was a lovely person and someone who has been very much part of our lives since we came to the Gardens ...
Jennifer was such a wonderful person and welcoming, and a pivotal member of the community.
Jennifer was such a vibrant person, with so much energy and fun and laughter. She had that wonderful flair for conveying her sense of fun to her very many friends and we shall miss that terribly.
I will always remember Jennifer as such a lively and vibrant person. I loved her naughtiness!
We have such happy memories of Jennifer over all the years. Jennifer and her lively sense of fun (not to mention the trousers!), and her commitment to your family and the neighborhood. She was such a part of the wonderful years we enjoyed on the Gardens ...
From the time I first knew Jennifer in about 1956 she was always the lively, practical, sensible, attractive woman that she was when I last saw her, and as I shall always remember her. Feisty is a word which we never used in those days, but I take it to be a term of approval and I think it fits her.
I have known Jennifer for nearly thirty years as a fellow nursery-school mother, and then a friend and neighbour. She has always been warm, funny (sometimes outrageous), reliable, thoughtful and fair.
Jennifer was such a lovely person – so full of life, such a splendid neighbour to have, and such a reliable 'other mother'.
I will miss her very much, especially our chats over the fence about the goings on in the Garden and life in general. I always felt so lucky to have a fellow Mum whom I liked so much as my neighbour ...
There will never be anyone quite like Jennifer on the Garden again.
I suppose I didn't know her that well, but my memories are of a happy, kind and caring person. She was a pleasure to meet at a party and always showed real concern and consideration for my situation which I appreciated so very much.
I keep on thinking of Jennifer and that last time I saw her ... when she was so bright and full of laughter. That's how I shall always think of her with her wonderful smile and her musical way of laughing.
Jennifer was such a warm, lovely person. When we saw you both we carried on from where we had left off. We so much enjoyed her fun, enthusiasm and her general enjoyment of life. She was also a great mother. Proud and realistic about the boys.
We have this strong memory of Jennifer always there, loyally supporting whatever was going on, however busy she was; her sensitive understanding of the role the school played in the lives of Andrew, Inigo and Piers was always the most tremendous help ... she was a wonderful mother as well as everything else.
Jennifer was to me a great girl: steadfast, dependable, no-nonsense: every inch her father's daughter (but easier!).
Jennifer was loyal, she was sensible, she was calm, she hated rows but knew what was right, she was selfless. She was a colleague, a friend made in heaven.
We shall always remember her for those radiant qualities of integrity, unselfishness, humour, modesty – and as she so sadly proved at the end – outstanding courage.
When I learned the dreadful news the bright world suddenly turned grey ... those of us who had even the slightest idea of what Jennifer had to endure were stunned by her courage and fortitude. Jennifer's sense of fun, her practical kindness, her intelligence, her vivacity were a joy to all of us who were lucky enough to know her.
It is so sad and totally unjust that Jennifer, who devoted her life to supporting and making others happy, should suffer so terribly in recent months.
She has been so marvellously brave and gallant with such an enemy to confront and fight, it seemed impossible that she would not somehow win through.
She was so strong in all ways it just seemed impossible that she would not recover.
We never believed in the possibility that she might not be cured.
She was a lovely person and we both thought that she was so strong that she would pull through.
One had become so used to thinking of her as immovable, one of the great comforting, reliable, unchangeable constants in life, that this thing that was happening to her would simply not have a chance.
The illness striking suddenly as it did, taking her from the vibrant, laughing, caring Jennifer of July 2nd and Andrew's engagement party, to this, has left us shaken, full of sadness and very aware of our own mortality.
She was unbelievably strong in her cruel illness, and I feel glad and privileged to have been able to look in on her and to find her sitting up in bed and pleased to see us and much her usual self – though she could not have been feeling like that inside.
When I last saw you, you were desperate and Jennifer was deeply worried and concerned about you.
Like everyone else who knew Jennifer I am truly horrified ... it just did not seem conceivable that someone so full of life and vivacity should be struck down out of the blue. For the one thing one knew about Jennifer was that she was always so full of life and smiling, whether on her way to play tennis, or making music, or going off to the Alps skiing.
The news of Jennifer's death was the worst I've ever received.
I only got to know Jennifer quite recently ... I greatly admired her cheerful, positive attitude to life and all the voluntary work she did, helping so many children with their reading and carrying on so conscientiously all the many activities initiated by Ivor. It was also a great pleasure to see at Farnborough what a very happy family life she had created, which must be the greatest achievement of anyone's life.
I have only known Jennifer for these last few months, but I was struck immediately by her special personality. She was so kind to me, and after only a short period I had such a warm feeling of friendship with her which one normally only experiences after a long acquaintance.
Some people have great entertainment value; others I value as colleagues; countless friends I value as just good, loyal friends; but there remains a handful of people of whom I would say "They changed my life" ... I will say simply that she was one of the rarest, loveliest people I have known. Intelligence, wisdom, humour. I suppose these attributes leap to mind when I think of Jennifer, but to single them out is to neglect the rest. Perhaps it is better simply to say that there was never one single moment when I did not enjoy being with her ... Jennifer's death serves to reinforce for me the preciousness of what is good in life.