{"id":30,"date":"2017-01-11T21:06:55","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T21:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quizzical-morning.flywheelsites.com\/rachelnarkiewicz\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2024-06-05T10:09:33","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T10:09:33","slug":"what-families-said","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/what-families-said\/","title":{"rendered":"What Families Said…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just wanted to thank you for the service today for my uncle. \u00a0The service today has helped me to come to terms with my uncle’s unfortunate death and helped my clarify my feelings towards him. I just wanted to thank you for being a part of the reason that I have found peace and closure. January 2017<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Rachel, Thank you doesn’t seem adequate for the Ceremony you gave to Celebrate ***** Life.\u00a0\u00a0It was dignified, sad but light hearted and a perfect interpretation of my opinion of his life as I saw it. I also much appreciated having a copy of the Ceremony to re-live and mull over from time to time the whole experience of the time I spent with *****.\u00a0\u00a0I believe He would have appreciated the way the Service evolved especially departing, at his request, to the sounds of a tune from John Wayne’s film Red River ‘Settle Down to Missouri’. March 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

This was the best funeral I have ever been to. \u00a0I want to book you for mine! \u00a0The suggestion of applause was great. \u00a0G****** would have loved that!” December\u00a02017<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rachel Narkiewicz was quite simply wonderful. When we first met Rachel it only took us 2 minutes to realise we had found the right person. Her manner was gentle and wise and she instantly understood exactly how we wanted the service to be. She came to our house to get a feel for ***** and for his family and we didn’t have to repeat anything. She got it right first time. She never pretended to know ***** on the day of his memorial but I had the impression she was as moved by the eulogies as everyone else and this came across in the warmth she showed us all. She sent me a complete script before the memorial so I knew everything that was going to be said ( I didn’t want any surprises) and the service was well structured and professional. She was able to introduce a religious element for those in the room who had a faith and many people told me that the 4 minutes we had for reflection was an important part of the service.\u00a0\u00a0If any of your future clients are having doubts or worries about conducting a non religious ceremony then please use this as a testimonial and high recommendation for Rachel Narkiewicz.\u00a0 May 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

Saying goodbye to you on Monday did not do justice to the gratitude I feel for how you made the funeral service for Dad such a warm and positive event.\u00a0 Just 25 minutes to say goodbye to someone who has been in your life for 60 years is not very long but I feel we were able to do justice to our feelings of loss and our memories \u2013and for all those others present.\u00a0 Your help with a fabulous selection of readings and the overall message of valuing what it means to be human and how not to dwell on the loss was perfect and helped us through.\u00a0 We left feeling positive about how we had been able to say our goodbyes in a way that was appropriate to who Dad was and how he lived his life \u2013 it also gave us a valuable message for how to lead our own.\u00a0 January 2018<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you so much for carrying out the Ceremony for ***, we could not have asked for anything more.\u00a0\u00a0You were just the right person for us and her.\u00a0\u00a0Right from the start you just seemed to know what was required, how to get it out of us, and then managed to get it across to everyone there.\u00a0\u00a0So many people who attended, both religious and not, came to us after to say how lovely the whole thing was,\u00a0 and they all seemed to agree that it was perfect and fitting for *****.\u00a0 Woodland Burial May 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

Mum’s close friend Anne said last weekend that she felt as if you had known Mum by the way you spoke about her.\u00a0\u00a0Thank you again for what you did -it helped so much to honour mum’s life and help us start to come to terms with her death. \u00a0Several friends and relatives said they wished they’d done a humanist funeral for their relatives.\u00a0 \u00a0July 2018<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Thank you so much for all the care and effort you put into making the funeral such a positive occasion.\u00a0 I felt your delivery was exactly right; everyone said how much they appreciated your address, and discovering so much about her life.\u00a0 Finding the right tone in a non-religious context is tricky, as we now have no common language for such things, but people said that it worked for them, so congratulations on that.\u00a0 We wanted to do justice to her life, and I think your input was a major factor in helping us to do that. December 2019<\/em><\/p>\n

You truly made one of the most difficult times so much easier to manage and helped us to send *** off in the way that he would have approved of by a fellow comrade!\u00a0\u00a0Thank you once again for your kind words. December 2020<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you very much for running the ‘service’ so well yesterday. It was great to have laughter among the tears and was very much what she wanted. August\u00a02021<\/em><\/p>\n

Dad and I particularly appreciated how easy you made this potentially very difficult process – you are so compassionate and easy to talk to.\u00a0 We could not have hoped to be in better hands. <\/strong>August 2021<\/em><\/p>\n

Having your Humanist ceremony made it such a more personal service. I\u2019m pleased we made this choice as previously we\u2019ve had religious funerals for other relatives which I don\u2019t remember. I think this one I will remember though as it was such a more meaningful and fitting tribute so thank you for all you\u2019ve done. June\u00a02022<\/em><\/p>\n

I just wanted to say now that the dust has settled a tiny bit, how grateful we were to you on the day of ***** funeral. Your words were so wonderful so thought out so appropriate so perfect, it helped make the whole occasion as wonderful as we could\u2019ve possibly hoped it was. All of the comments from my friends and family said the same, that you were absolutely wonderful. Thank you for making a painful occasion one that we will never forget, one that no one in the room will ever forget, one that was absolutely suitable for our wonderful ****. We really felt that you took some time to really understand us, and ***** and that we wanted the event to be a celebration, and it really was. August\u00a02022<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you on behalf of the whole family for everything you did for today.\u00a0\u00a0My father now converted has requested we keep in touch for the future and his eventual needs ( however long into the future they may be) because he genuinely found your handling of the service incredible and touching.\u00a0 November 2022<\/em><\/p>\n

There were a number of people who also wanted to meet you and let you know how they felt about the ceremony, so I promised to pass their comments on.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cVery special\u201d. \u201cPerfect\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cThe best funeral service I have ever been to\u201d (said by more than one person).\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe least \u2018sad\u2019 service I have ever been to because the life lived was truly celebrated\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI felt I truly got to know the real her\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBeautifully done\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAmazing speaker\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0I agree with all of the above. Thank you so much for bringing your compassion and intelligence to bear and making it just right.\u00a0 February 2023<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I just wanted to say thanks again for the wonderful service today, I was a little too emotional to speak immediately after the service.\u00a0\u00a0I think your service perfectly captured mum, which friends and family at the wake commented upon too, and how wonderfully and warm you spoke.\u00a0\u00a0Throughout the past couple of weeks you\u2019ve helped to make a really difficult and sad time so much easier and provided the opportunity for happy memories and stories to be told, so Joanne and I are really very thankful to you.\u00a0 March 2023<\/em><\/p>\n

Every thing you did for **** and me today was first class.\u00a0\u00a0Afterwards we went for a cream tea and people were saying the service you did for her was the best they had been to.\u00a0\u00a0I know life should not be a competition but I had to agree with them.\u00a0\u00a0You are at the end of the day only doing your job but I could see just how thoughtful, kind and loving a person you are.<\/strong> July 2023<\/em><\/p>\n

Rachel did a phenomenal job with my father\u2019s funeral service. She helped us feel at ease in the lead up and came out to my mother\u2019s house to meet in person to help us prepare and personalise the service for Dad. On the day Rachel was a comforting presence and she did a wonderful job leading the service. I would thoroughly recommend Rachel for any humanist-led ceremony. June 2024<\/em><\/p>\n

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I just wanted to thank you for the service today for my uncle. \u00a0The service today has helped me to come to terms with my uncle’s unfortunate death and helped my clarify my feelings towards him. I just wanted to thank you for being a part of the reason that I have found peace and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":333,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148,"href":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions\/148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanist.org.uk\/rachelnarkiewicz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}