Patricia Heren, Washington D.C., 1965

The resulting portrait is, for me, poignant and deeply affecting. My mother was about 40 at the time, and about to enter the advanced stages of multiple sclerosis that killed her ten years later. Hailstone deftly catches her gentle beauty, intelligence and good humour-but also a hint of sadness, of courage under impending shadow.

The image reminds me that she nursed me through devastating illness, passed on her religious faith and taught me-among much else-to endure hardship with as much grace as I can muster. Mellon remained elusive, and Bernard turned to the newest member of our family, my sister Elizabeth, then about a year old. The infant's gaze gives little hint of the psychotherapist she was to become.