Mary's passing is a very sad event for the Porteous family, but those who remain have absolute faith that she is now happy and will remain so.

I have struggled these last two weeks as I think about Mary to find my thought. Mary was many things to many people. She was the kind lady who chatted at the market stall. The lady who visited gardens, the cake maker, many never knew her association with the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths or her work with guilds and Saudi princes. She never thought to tell them. I've wondered about her essence. She was a good person. I'll always remember her as a very good person who affected the lives of so many

I met Mary at a coffee morning for a new mothers in 1979, when my son Sam and Catherine were just a couple of months old. Catherine was wearing a floppy white cotton bonnet with a neck frill, that made her look a little bit like the Duchess in Alice in Wonderland. She and Mary both had enormous beautiful eyes. Mary and I became friends and stayed so all her life. We used to look after one another’s children. Mary was absolutely brilliant at doing arts and crafts with tinies. She always used to say that children could do so much more than anyone ever gave him credit for, they just needed the chance. In addition to being a wonderful artist and Goldsmith, she could turn her hand to any sort of handicraft. I remember my little daughter Laura coming home proudly with her square of cloth, when Mary had taught her how to do batik dying. Then came the wonderful cakes. At a Guy Fawkes party to the delight of the children she made with a large domed cake covered in Cadburys flakes to form the wood of the bonfire, with a very gloomy looking Guy Fawkes sitting on the top. He was beautifully modelled in marzipan – that is the 1st of Mary’s amazing cakes that I remember. Many more followed. Mary was a very kind, intelligent and caring person. She had a highly developed sense of humour and loved ridiculous and odd happenings. She was so generous with her time and energy and helped so many people. I miss her.