Leigh Marise Ellis 17 April, 1957 – 21 April, 2023

Natalie Leighton

Leigh Our conversations were always interesting, amusing and mostly positive. When I would point out a negative to Leigh- she would come back at me with, I don’t like to complain and people do their best, it’s not their fault – at times I thought, wow Leigh you really do have a right to complain but this is your path and I will try to help you navigate it as best as I can. Leigh adopted the neighbourhood stray and bought Puss’s food and flea and worming tablets, when leaving Berwick House I had to confirm with the manager that “Puss” was going to be cared for and report back to Leigh, Leigh was hoping that I could arrange for Puss to come visit – they were difficult conversations, but Leigh would say well there is more of them there to take care of Puss- maybe I will let her stay there! When we went looking at different places for Leigh to stay, she would let the managers know that Puss is very clean, doesn’t “shit” inside – (so weird to hear Leigh swear, I nearly fell over!, I don’t think she ever swore around me, not once.), Leigh would go on to tell them, if you let Puss come to live here, you wont ever have mice, she gets rid of them all you know?! – we were told no often and Leigh, not one to be deterred from achieving her goal, would continue to speak about how nice it is here and Puss would love it and will be a great house cat! I would arrange to take Leigh out, one of her lovely support workers would bring her and we would have lunch – leigh would have a steak sandwich or battered fish and chips, usually with a hot choccy, Leigh not one to like wasting food would often say her eyes were bigger than her belly, she was so tiny and when ordering I thought “no way are you going to get half way through that!”, but I knew better than to tell her this as Leigh knew her own mind, I would quietly have a giggle to myself as we got a take away container “because again, eyes/belly haha”. There is one topic that Leigh would talk about all day if she could… her children and her grandchildren, every photo you sent her, I saw!, she had them in her handbag that sat on her wheelie walker and every time I visited…out came the envelope with new pics – this would usually coincide with a discussion about a topic she either had no interest in - such as health related or completing documents! In the end I thought, “well I will just have to come back again and do them but by bit”. If Leigh wasn’t interested, I could be mid-sentence and she would just change the conversation to a whole different topic – her favourite ..the family. Leigh spoke with great pride about you all and I listened as if I were hearing it for the first time..every time! Leigh would show me the photos and tell me how her daughter works very hard and runs the boys around and she would tell me which one looked like her, then she would tell me about her son, he is a hard worker and up there with Rebecca, she was very excited to know there was a new baby. Leigh would then speak of her youngest Debra, who was doing very well and had a nice car, and she too was a very hard worker. She always wanted to live wherever there was a nice garden so the grandchildren could have somewhere to play when they visited. Leigh would speak about her mum and say she is very far away, but they often wrote, Leigh would love to go for a shop – black Friday sales were a favourite and she would tell me about her bargains. I would often show up with a hot choccy and banana bread from Maccas and I would have my coffee and she would tell me about her education or what had been happening in the street lately. At first I thought ohhh I don’t know how we are going to go here as it was like drawing blood getting information out of Leigh and when she was done talking with you, Leigh would zip up her bag and say “well I will let you go, grab the handles of her walker and get up”- me dumbfounded as I was mid conversation asking questions to complete intake, I was still packing up and she was ready to head back to her room! But I would ring or she would call me and I could hear her walking to the phone often saying “I really need a mobile phone”, id ask her if she would like a visitor and get 20 questions – what time because I get my hair done that day or I have a nap at that time, or that’s lunch time. We would make arrangements and then it was a quick, ok then see you then and click..Leigh was gone, I was still midway through my “ok well I will see you then!” I think it took 4 visits to get that bloody intake paperwork done haha. One of the last times I saw her, was to give her some goodies and let her know that her NDIS journey with me was over. While there and eating some of the choccies, Leigh kept looking at me funny and she clued on that I was puzzled, she said “mmm that’s a nice dress, wouldn’t mind one of those” followed up with “you going out to meet someone are you?” hahaha, oh gosh Leigh you just kept me on my toes the whole time, I could see you rocking a leopard print maxi dress! In all seriousness, I enjoyed working with your mum and honestly when she spoke of you guys, she spoke with pride, joy and love, sounds like you were all good kids. I am truly sorry for your loss and I hope what I have written is ok. Warm Regards, Natalie Leighton