This site is a tribute to Phoebe Taylor, who was born in Cumbria on April 01, 1989. She was no April Fool !

She is much loved by so many and will be remembered for her smile, her wisdom, her wit, her kindness, her generosity and so much more.

The words below were read at her funeral by her mum - the full eulogy and tributes from friends can be seen in the Stories section.

PHOEBE GRACE TAYLOR HER LIFE and LOVES
 
Phoebe was born in the Lake District in 1989. I am her mum. 
A lifetime of working with the dying – but nothing has prepared me for this.
 
Phoebe was alive for 17 million minutes – I have just 7 minutes to share what she loved.
 
People have sent cards and say they have no words. 
 
Phoebe always had words. She talked way before she walked
She loved words so much
Their origin, their complexity, their beauty
She knew every word to every song in Hamilton – she spent a whole month’s salary to see it in New York – she loved the rhymes and the references.
Strike while the irony is hot was one of her favourite lyrics from a Dessa song.
 
And she loved languages
She was fluent in Spanish – she was watching ‘Money Heist’ without subtitles until last week
She delighted in learning Portuguese online during lockdown
‘Some of my best friends are linguists’ she used to joke

She was born in Cumbria
She loved the mountains and the lakes
On her last zoom with Sammy and I – she said how much she missed the mountains
She couldn’t wait to visit her Dad’s new house overlooking Derwent Water.
 

The WhatsApp Group of shared memories from 82 friends this week have revealed extraordinary stories of Phoebe’s compassion for her friends - one said that her ability to support them with stillness, without solutions or judgement, has taught them how to be a better junior doctor.
 
Words like ferociously bright, incredibly funny, radiant, loving, extraordinarily kind.
People have shared postcards and presents that she bought for them with the most moving of hand-written messages to her friends.
 
 
She was so unmaterialistic, spent all her money on others, would accept little from her parents, brought astounding presents for her many friends and gave most of her salary to charity.
She was horrified by the many injustices in our society and was increasingly drawn to working with the homeless.

 I was with Phoebe just a week before she died. We made chicken soup together and she was delighted with this new skill.
 
I asked her what mattered most to her, what made her happy, when we met just 7 days before she died. 
 
She said : her friends, her little cousins Anna and Mila, mountains, sci-fi, ice-cream  but mainly her friends. 
Anna and Mila, 8 and 5 are heartbroken – Phoebe was reading Harry Potter over Zoom to Anna during lockdown.
 
I realise now her occupation was not an Editor
Her occupation was being a Friend
 

 The gloom of lockdown got to Phoebe
 
For someone surviving on the fuel of friendship, lock down was terrible for her
 
We don’t know why she died – maybe we will never know 
 
I believe Phoebe was finding her calling in life, was true to what she cared deeply about. Her friends said she could never be deflected from her mission and beliefs.
 
But she has left us after 31 years and we now have to cherish what she taught us – and she taught us so much about what really matters in life
 
 
Be kind 
 
Be generous
 
Climb mountains
 
Don’t waste time working too hard – she sent me flowers in January as she had heard that I had said NO to some new role – she thought the flowers would be good positive reinforcement to saying more NO’s
 
She made us laugh
She was a vital spark, 
A free radical
 
 
And in the words of Leonard Cohen :
So come, my friends, be not afraid.
We are so lightly here.
It is in love that we are made
In love we disappear