Marylou

This week we and and a vast hinterland of music lovers around the world were deeply saddened by the loss of Marylou Speaker Churchill. We knew her primarily as Mark's wife, but the rest of the musical world knew Mark as Marylou's husband! Aside from her enormous talent as a violin performer and teacher, she had an incredible grace and a very warm personality. But don't take my word for it – there has been a huge outpouring of thoughts, anecdotes, love and affection on the Facebook page: Friends of Marylou Speaker Churchill. Another source of information about her life is of course the obituary in the Globe.

Our thoughts are very much with Mark, Emma and Julia, who I think are now 14 years old – a time when a mother will be very much missed!

I have many fond memories of Marylou playing with SPM either as soloist, "ripieno" violinist, or just plain audience member. One was the incident of the trousers. You'll have to ask me about that one. Another was her very genuine warmth when playing the Dvorak concerto and having to deal with me as bassoonist! Another (not directly SPM-related) is her being there at our wedding when we asked Mark if he would officiate. My recollection is that it was the "girls", by which I think he meant all three, that persuaded him to do it. Marylou could justifiably have stayed at home – it was so nice of her to come. That was typical of her.