According to the woman's friends, Edith was "a wonderful woman who loved to drink a gin and tonic from time to time". Shortly before her death, members of Mary Edith Cayburn's family secretly brought this cocktail to the hospital in a bottle of water.
In 2012, an International Gin and Tonic Day Facebook page was launched, and the tradition of honouring gin and tonic spread from the US East Coast to the rest of the world.