A memorial of

Tuesday June 9 6:43 AM EDT
Paul says goodbye to Linda with Beatles
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Paul McCartney, flanked by family, friends, fellow Beatles and two Shetland ponies, Monday paid an emotional farewell to his wife Linda after her death from breast cancer.
It was the first time in three decades that Ringo Starr and George Harrison had come together with McCartney in public.
They were there to support him as he paid an emotion-charged tribute to the woman who had only spent one night apart from Paul in 30 years of marriage.
McCartney praised his wife as a great lover, fantastic photographer, passionate rock n'roll fan and fervent crusader for animal rights.
Up the aisle at St Martin in The Fields church were led two Shetland ponies -- Schoo and Tinsel -- which he had given Linda as Christmas presents.
McCartney, who with John Lennon composed so many Beatle classics, said he wanted the service to be a celebration of Linda, a dedicated vegetarian campaigner who died in April.
"I have lost my girlfriend and that is very sad. I still cannot believe it but I have to because it is true," he told the 700-strong congregation packed into the church lined with white roses, peonies and lilies.
He said she was like a bright, shining diamond in his life. Recalling the first time they met, he said: "I caught her eye and thought I cannot let this chance go."
"As a lover she was the best...We had a lot of fun making those babies," he said.
For the service he was joined by his three children, Mary, fashion designer Stella and rock guitarist James, along with Heather, Linda's daughter from her first marriage.
Linda McCartney, who died in the United States at the age of 56, was a photographer and vegetarian who started her own successful food business and was a strong supporter of animal rights.
"She said one day if I could save just one animal, that is all I would like to do. I saw a light bulb come on over her head," Paul said.
"Over the years, she has become the first vegetarian tycoon and I understand they have sold more than 400 million meals. So that is a couple of animals she has saved," he told the congregation.
The guests, a Who's Who of pop music, ranged from Elton John and Sting to George Martin, the producer who used to be known as the fifth Beatle.
Animal rights campaigners staged a candlelit vigil in Trafalgar Square outside the church. They sported "Go Veggie for Linda" badges.
The congregation sang "Let It Be" -- the poignant ballad McCartney wrote for his own mother Mary, who died of breast cancer when he was 14 years old.
The last time the Beatles sang in public together was in 1969 when an impromptu session on the rooftop of their Apple record building in central London brought traffic to a halt.
This is the second time that tragedy has struck the world's most famous pop group. Lennon was shot dead by a deranged fan outside his New York apartment in 1980.
"Lady Linda, we cannot see you but we still hear you," said her fellow animal rights activist, television writer Carla Lane.
"We will complete your journey," she pledged.
The ashes of Linda McCartney had been scattered by Paul over their family estate in southern England.
The service began with the haunting refrain from Sir Paul McCartney's 1977 hit "Mull of Kintyre."
Reading one eulogy, actress Joanna Lumley said it all for so many who packed the church to celebrate a life cut short: "Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room."

Photographer David Bailey read a poem by Spike Milligan:
It was heaven
You were seven and I was eight
And we watched the stars suspended
Walking home down an apple lane
Me and Rosie, a doll, a daisy chain
On an evening that would never come again.

"Lady Linda, we cannot see you, but we still hear you," said writer and animal rights activist Carla Lane. "There was no lowly creature in your eye, no size, no strength, no special beauty. They were all the same." Lane pledged, "We will complete your journey. Before peace and dignity can come to the animals, it must come to man."

Actress Joanna Lumley, in her eulogy, said, "Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away to the next room."

Linda Sight on Pathfinder
Linda Bio from San Fransisco's Museum
Linda's Kitchen SiteTHE RECIPES ARE ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! I tried all of them!
Linda's Activism
Article for New Frontier Magazine by Linda
ABC News Entertainment on Linda's Death
Lovely Lady Linda Site
Entertainment Weekly Linda Special
Vegetarian Site
Get more info about Breast Cancer.
FEED Daily posting on Linda
Story about Linda and her death
Environmental Defense Fund World Wide
Vegan Web Site

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