Extraordinary LIVES
MOM lived to a ripe old age and though weak and bedridden at the end, she never lost her outspoken Brummie tongue. Often exasperated by the daily visits of fussing carers and nurses, she would tell them to ‘hop it’ and ‘clear off’ — when she wasn’t using less polite expressions. You had to admire her spirit. She had a tough start in life, born in 1921 into a poor working-class family. Her father died when she was only one. When she was eight, her mother, who had become severely depressed after being widowed, died of dropsy — the old-fashioned term for oedema. Dr Barnardo’s came to collect the orphan, but her older brother Jack, then 21 and working as a machinist in an engineering factory, said he would take responsibility for her. Mom was saved from the orphanage, but had a povertystricken upbringing. At school, she was mocked by her classmates for her make-do-and-mend clothes. She left school a week before her 14th birthday to take up a job at a grocers, and was proud of the fact she had a week’s wages in her pocket by the time her classmates finished school. At 17, she started working as a silver service waitress in a posh restaurant at Lewis’s department store. This was a great stroke of luck because that was where she met my dad, Dennis, a trainee chef.
She said they ‘looked at each other over the hot plates’ and were instantly attracted. He was the love of her life. As he was seven months younger, she called him her toy boy. During the war, Mom worked in a munitions factory while Dad was serving overseas with the Navy. They married in July 1946 and a year later my twin brother Robert and I were born. Our brother David came along a year later. Mom didn’t go out to work again once she had children: she wanted her life to centre on the family and home. That’s not to say she didn’t have other interests. She was an avid Aston Villa fan, holding a season ticket for many years. She happily went off to watch matches on her own because Dad had no interest in football. My parents had a shared passion for travel. Dad had a caravanette in which they toured Scotland. But they didn’t stop there. Over the years they flew on Concorde, in helicopters and in an airship, rode on the Orient Express and sailed on the QE2. They explored Europe, North America and parts of the Middle East, but Mom always said her favourite destination was Niagara Falls — it was so good, she had to go there twice. Always fun-loving, she relished her visit to Disney World in Florida. On the safari boat ride, she managed to duck just as a mechanical elephant sprayed the riders with water from its trunk. She stayed dry, while the man behind her got drenched. ‘I saw that coming!’ she laughed. My parents had a wonderfully happy marriage and were looking forward to celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, but Dad died a few months before it. Mom never really got over losing Dad 13 years ago. Now, they are doubtless holding hands again, as they used to.