Sally Knight

I first knew you purely as a work colleague when I began working for  'Sales Technologies' in Maidenhead in 1990.

At that time your were married (2nd time around) and had the surname of Stevenson.

Over the coming months and years we forged a close friendship, the type of 'real' and special friendship that many people don't get the chance to experience in their life.    

We used to have long discussions about life, the universe and just about anything realy.   We discussed everything openly, offering emotional support and friendly critisisms when needed too.

And somehow during our many chats we'd often end up resolving all the worlds problems and finally make the whole galaxy a better place to live.   That's the sort of person you were Sally, that was the kind of positive energy and cheery outlook that you always seemed to generate in me whenever I was around you.

You were, are, was an incredibly kind, thoughtful, caring, fun, intelligent beautiful person with a great deal of wisdom gained through some hard years of experience and I admired your inner strength and determination to carry on no matter what challenge life threw at you.

Sadly you were suddenly snatched from this world in 1995, leaving behind your loving children, family and many friends.  Killed in a cold calculated attack by your husband, an incredibly selfish, disgustingly vicious, evil, deranged man (though man is not a suitable word to describe him)  who you were already in the process of divorcing.   

It has taken me many years to even begin to come to terms with what happened, even now as I write this I have to keep pausing to get myself together.   I don't think I will ever get over losing you Sally.  Every time think of you all the emotions come flooding back as though it was all only a few days ago.  As if it were only a few hours or days since we last met or spoke on the phone.

I regret losing touch with your children (Sophia, Darren and Joshua) and parents (Bob and Val).  Unfortunately my self imposed exile was the only way I could even begin to deal with the tormenting maze of emotions that the whole incident stirred up inside me.

I hope that maybe one day I can meet up with them again, just to know they're doing okay.  Unfortunately after all this time I don't really know how to go about it or whether it would even be right for me to appear back in their lives as it would only bring back the past for them.   I wish you were here to tell me what you thought I should do.

At the time when you died, parts of me were angry and confused over what had happened.  Part of me was, and still is, sad and angry because I've never been given the chance to even say goodbye nor would there ever be a chance for us to talk about things that had to go unspoken.... 

In the relatively short 5 years that I knew you Sally it is transpiring that you've had a large influence on me.  Many aspects of which I have only just begun to realise in the past year or so.  

Its very strange, sometimes I go for days, weeks without the thoughts consciously coming to the surface and yet sometimes my mind drifts, and all the old thoughts come back in a huge surge of emotions and it feels like its only been a few days or weeks since I last spoke to you.....  I wish you were still here.  

I am very proud to have known you Sally.  I feel honoured and eternally grateful that you allowed me to be your friend and am pleased that I have at least been able to keep the treasured special memories our special friendship, the thoughts and feelings that I will carry within me always.

You were and always will be very special to me and there will always be a huge gap in my life left by your absence and I miss you in ways that I feel no one else can ever really understand.

__________

I don't know where you are now Sally, but you are in my thoughts every day.  Wherever it may be that you are now I hope that you have all the peace and happiness you always wanted and so richly deserved.

- Russell