Amanda Margarete Dorothea Henshaw (28 Apr 1925 - 7 Jan 2021)

In loving memory of Amanda ‘Marga’ Henshaw, mother, grandmother and great grandmother, who sadly passed away on 7th January 2021. Missed by Peter, Esther, Michael and all their family members.

Born in 1925 in Schleswig, Germany to Peter and Dora Hansen, Marga lived through remarkable times, including World War II – through which she met her husband, Harry – and many other notable or notorious events such as the building ae nd destruction of the Berlin Wall, the advent of the Worldwide Web and more recently, the Covid 19 pandemic. She had a sister, Emma, who sadly died in her 40s.

Marga moved to England in 1951 to marry Harry Henshaw and gave birth to her first child, Peter in 1952, followed by Esther in 1953 and Michael in 1957. Harry died in 1991. Later, she welcomed into her wider family daughters-in-law Ros and Liz and also, son-in-law, John. Her grandchildren Sophie and Tessa and great grandchildren Landen and Riley were a joy to her. Sophie’s partner Andrew and Tessa’s husband Craig were additionally welcomed into the wider family during Marga’s lifetime.

Marga’s occupations included running a small hostel for children attending Michael House School, a ward and later Doctor’s receptionist and an admin officer at Weleda UK. However, although very capable and a deep thinker, a career was not foremost in Marga’s mind. The most important aspect of her life, apart from family, was her spiritual search which led her to finding fulfilment in Rudolph Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Christian Community. This life-long search, following a formative experience at the very young age of three, sought to find a balance between the spiritual inner life and the physical outer.

After Harry’s death, Marga moved to sheltered accommodation at Nesfield Court, Ilkeston and, when independent living became untenable, spent the last 3½ years of her life in Victoria Court care home where she died at the grand old age of 95.

Marga lived both a full and spiritually fulfilled life spanning nearly a century of accelerating change. She will be mourned by family, friends and others whose lives touched hers. Perhaps, though, the final words should go to Marga, for in a potted-history of her life she wrote, “Again and again, one has to experience and recognise a certain conflict between one’s inner self and the world, in order to find the compensating link in the living Christ. Only in this way can one find the true purpose in life.”