Dear Fiona and Matthew,
Both your mother and father were faithful friends, humanist people , in one word : extraordinary people. I will always remember the day when I met them. Fiona was 6 years old. Matthew was a toddler. I was in my 20s , working with an agency placing French pupils with English families for the holidays.
Peter and Jean were the perfect hosts : Jean with her big smile, her efforts to speak slowly and to pronounce each syllable so that I could understand every single word, and with her incredible gift to make Pavlova cake with raspberries. Many times in my life have I tried to apply her recipe... Unsuccessfully ! She was a real first class chef....
For more than 50 years, we exchanged letters, emails, and paid visits to each other. I used to go to London nearly every year with my school pupils and it was an opportunity for Jean and I to share cups of tea in the best places of London ! We were greedy "ladies" having tea at Fortnum and Mason's, at Liberty's, at the Dorchester's and other tea-rooms in Mayfair and Kensington (Milestone Hotel : a dream !) :  we were living gastronomic fairy tales like princesses in enchanting places....
Can you remember your summer holidays in Annecy  with us? Was it in 1988 or 1989 ? Our old farm had not been renovated yet and your stay must have been a bit spartan ! Peter and Jean were particularly interested in the WW2 Resistance Museum nearby and we spent happy moments together, visiting Maurice's region. 
In 2009, Jean returned to Annecy with three friends of hers : Margaret, Janet, and Jean n°2... At that time, we had a Renault 4 - a tiny French car of the Sixties. We had invited Jean & her friends to have dinner in Talloires. By then, our old farm had become a comfortable home. When dinner was over, it was night and Maurice offered to give them a lift to their hotel in Annecy. Just imagine the scenario of a comic film : Margaret in the front seat, watching Maurice's careful driving ... and then, in the back seat, three dignified ladies, crammed like sardines, having unquenchable bursts of laughter ! But the car loaded with an unusual weight,  overcame all the obstacles of the steep roads, , and reached the hotel without any problem !
In 2012, we had the pleasure to see the three of you again in the Alps. Jean was beaming with happiness. Travelling and discovering new cultures had taken her around the world but having both her children with her was the highlight of her holidays ! There is one photograph which  illustrates perfect happiness on that very day  : Jean  with Mont Blanc (the highest peak of Europe)  on her left, plates of French pancakes on her right, caught in the act of greediness !
Our lives are made of all these moments with friends, family, people we meet. When someone leaves us, a part of ourselves is suddenly missing. We miss Jean dearly , her marvellous smile, her enthusiasm, her long newsy letters, our traditional phone call on December 25th every year, her voice over the phone " Oh ! Marie ! My Goodness ..."
We'll continue our conversation via prayers and deep thoughts, while turning the pages of our photo albums.
With much love to both of you,
Marie & Maurice x x