Our friendship began in the early 2000’s when someone asked if I could drive Lesley to a choir practice. Later, I would be her regular taxi driver to a Bible study and fellowship group at the home of our mutual friend Caryl. And so we shared friends, stories, laughs, prayers and dreams. Although her life appeared quite ordinary, it was clear that Lesley had become the person she was through an extraordinary set of circumstances. Lesley set to work on writing her story in 2018. Somewhere along the line she asked for my help and over time I became her writing companion. She would work away at her desktop computer, often late into the night, tapping out the experiences and thoughts she wanted to share with the world. Every week or two I would visit and we would sit together and make sense out of what she had written. Because of her lifelong hearing loss, her spelling was always ‘interesting’. Together we would tidy up sentences, move paragraphs around and hunt down correct spellings. We worked in large bright-coloured text and changed the colour of a passage when we had edited it. Some of the memories moved Lesley to tears, but there was lots of laughter too. I count it a great privilege to have sat with her as we cobbled together her accounts of the many experiences and influences that made her the intrepid, persistent, outgoing yet tender person that she was. Hers was a remarkable life. Lesley had a strong sense that God wanted her to tell her story. I’m sure her purpose in writing was to encourage people in life and faith. On the night before she died she told her cousin “I’ve finished the book”, so we can be pretty sure most of what she wanted to impart is here.

Since her death on 8 June 2019, I have worked with Lesley’s family to bring her story to a form that could be shared. Most of the photographs we chose to include are from Lesley’s collection, and from friends and family. We thank those who took and shared them, although in most cases we don’t have enough information to make individual acknowledgements. I offer particular thanks to John and Jenny Miller who have patiently supported this process at every stage. Although we made one or two corrections to dates and details, we have been careful to keep Lesley’s voice strong. Whether you knew Lesley or not, I hope that as you read you will hear her cheerful encouragement to overcome difficulties, take opportunities, serve others and nurture the inner life of faith.

Robyn McQueen

Auckland

August 2020