The year started perfectly for Maggie Beer with three generations of her family gathered for a double-whammy party. It was Maggie and husband Colin’s 50th wedding anniversary and Maggie’s landmark 75th birthday. “They’re just two days apart, a very special celebration,” says Maggie. “So we took the whole family to Noosa. We had the most beautiful time with fantastic food. Usually it’s [daughter Saskia and I who do the cooking together, but we took our chef, Tim Bourke [from Maggie’s Barossa Valley restaurant The Farm Eatery], who’s like part of the family. I didn’t want to go out to restaurants, I just wanted to be with the family.”
Local farmers and growers who knew Maggie delivered an endless supply of fresh produce for the occasion and the spread, she says, was “amazing”. “They chose every food in season that I love so much. We had five grandchildren – one couldn’t come – and both daughters, Sassy [Saskia] and Elli, and their husbands. It was days of celebration.”
Today Maggie says she feels so lucky to have had those cherished, carefree days when laughter filled the air. For just weeks later, her world imploded. During the night of February 14, Saskia died. She was 46.
Maggie was in “total shock”, a state that remains today. She still doesn’t know exactly what happened. “All we know is that it was peaceful,” she tells me, choking back tears.
In a social media post a couple of days later, Maggie poured out her grief. “It is with broken hearts we need to let you all know that Saskia, our beautiful, extraordinary daughter, sister, wife and mother died unexpectedly yet peacefully in her sleep on Friday night.”
Esta historia es de la edición December 2020 de The Australian Women's Weekly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición December 2020 de The Australian Women's Weekly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
