Extraordinary LIVES
MY MOTHER SYLVIA GOODMAN
GROWING up in a traditional Jewish home in North-West London — her father, Sidney Arnold, an optician, helped found Edgware Synagogue in 1931 — Sylvia dreamed of going to art school. But it was wartime, so she went to secretarial college and hoped to take evening classes in art. Just before her 17th birthday, she started work in the typing pool in the offices of the Cabinet and Committee of Imperial Defence. She soon found herself at a party where guests included Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain, Lloyd George and Anthony Eden. The Czech Crisis meant working from 9am until midnight seven days a week for weeks on end, and art school was forgotten. After war broke out, Sylvia was appointed secretary for General Sir Hastings Ismay, later Lord Ismay. Handling top-secret documents, she worked 24 hours on and 24 hours off in the Cabinet War Rooms under Whitehall. Churchill, in his blue siren suit, would give her a big smile. In 1943, she travelled to the U.S. on the Queen Mary with Churchill, who met President Roosevelt. The highlight should have been seeing Roosevelt, but it was the fact she came back with precious nylon
stockings! In 1944, she attended the Second Quebec Conference. In 1945, she flew to the Yalta Conference and was disappointed not to see Stalin. She had lunch at Chequers with Clementine Churchill, whom she described as ‘utterly charming’. Her civil service career ended in 1947, when she married our father, Louis. They had met at a synagogue youth group. In a book written and signed by Churchill, Lord Ismay wrote: ‘Inscribed for Sylvia, to whom I shall ever be grateful for her magnificent and devoted help during the Second World War.’ Sylvia had two daughters, Brenda and me, two granddaughters and a great-granddaughter. She devoted her life to her family and to volunteering: she worked in a charity shop, helped with the League of Jewish Women and served as secretary of a Jewish cultural club for seniors. She did not speak about her war work while we were growing up, but in her later years she gave talks in schools. She donated her photos and letters to the Jewish Military Museum in North-West London. Sylvia was a firm believer in fresh air and exercise. On holiday, we would all get drenched after setting off for a long walk because the sun had popped out briefly. She enjoyed painting, and specialised in water-colours of country scenes and flowers. In 2005, she met the Queen at a reception in the Cabinet War Rooms. In her last years, her greatest joy was to speak to her great-granddaughter in the U.S. and hear of her antics.
SYLVIA GOODMAN, born August 19, 1921; died October 20, 2018; aged 97.