PHILIP PENGELLY ...DIED APRIL 10th 2008

This is an eulogy for a wonderful man, an inspiration to me all my life, Rest in Peace my lovely Uncle.


We’ve come to say goodbye to Philip. He was a teacher, a friend, a colleague, a Cousin, a Brother, an Uncle, a Father, a Husband.
Each one of us comes with special memories. Probably most of them will make us smile, because it was Philip’s sense of humour that was an inherent part of his life. He was quick with his tongue and always ready to recite a given verse from his favourite sonnet or book.
His passions were deep and profound, his love of music and literature so many times moving him to tears, there was also his love of good food and wine, his cellar overflowing with Chateauneuf du Pape. !!

Teaching was more than a job, it was a vocation and he taught beyond his retirement. His passion for Shakespeare and Milton must have inspired countless pupils. We all saw his love of Shakespeare only last year when he and Sybil celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. He recited one of his favourite passages from Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. He was determined to do it, even though he was weak and frail, I know many of you were there that evening, and I’m sure you agree that this showed Philip’s courage and determination, qualities that ran through his life like a piece of gold.
That courage saw him deal with chronic ill health for the last ten years of his life, but also saw him overcome typhoid when he was a teenager.

I know a lot of you here today will remember Philip in his everlasting cream shorts, and his sandals, with a deep sun tan, bouncing up the cliffs, with his wayward hair blowing in the wind, and his little rucksack on his back with two tomato sandwiches and a bag of crisps, climbing down almost impossible rocks, to get to his favourite beach Pednevounder, saying hello and stopping to chat and sharing a joke with fellow beachcomers. It was August 2004 when Philip went down to Pednevounder for the last time, I happened to be in Penzance that day and was priviledged to be with him. It was a perfect summer’s day, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the tide was low enough so we could walk to Logan Rock, something that happens rarely I’m told. It was beautiful, and the memory of it will remain with me always

For Philip, freedom mattered more than anything else, freedom in thought, freedom to be creative, and freedom in nature. He never felt freer than when he was on the beach. And now he has broken free from the chains of ill-health and prehaps we can picture him walking on that eternal beach of sand and sea, the sky the bluest it can be , the sea warm and inviting, the sun on his back and on his face. And as he walks on the virgin sand, there will be another set of footprints beside him, God’s footprints, leading him to his final destination, a happiness which will be complete and have no end.
That’s Philip’s heaven.