Artist, teacher . . . and Countdown star

MUM came into this world on February 15, just missing being a ‘Valentine’, so she was christened Valerie instead.

We reckon she was born an artist. After she died, we found her school reading books with illicit sketches in the back. It was a sign of what was to come. She was never without a sketch-book and pencil.

When she left school, she won a scholarship to Poole School of Art, but her own mother died suddenly, aged 39. Mum was the eldest of three and her father, doing war work, had to move the family to Gosport in Hampshire, so she lost her place.

But Mum just got on with things. She became a librarian and was a voracious reader, regarding books as old friends to be kept for ever. Later, she worked as a technical writer and illustrator.

She also used to write comic verse. Inspiration would strike at the oddest moments and she’d scribble down little poems on the back of used envelopes.

In 1951, she married my Dad, Ron, who had been in the Navy in Malta when it was under siege in the war. Family life became her priority, though she kept working. Our parents loved to entertain. Their New Year’s Eve parties were legendary, and Mum would spend days baking for them.

In 1991, she became a local celebrity in Fareham, where we lived, when she appeared on Channel 4’s Countdown.

When Dad got ill with emphysema, she nursed him until he died in 1996.

She had taken a few night classes in portraiture, life-drawing and sculpture, and in her 70s decided to do an A-level in fine art. We were so proud of her. She spent the last 20 years of her life painting: she had a ‘studio’ in her flat, was a member of Fareham Art Group and tutored weekly workshops. She also accepted private commissions until she retired at 90, but she didn’t look or act like a 90-year-old.

Mum had much unhappiness towards the end. She never got over losing my sister Wendy to cancer in 2016, and was devastated, too, when her younger brother Rex died in 2017. She went into hospital after a fall and developed pneumonia.

Her death leaves a huge hole in our lives. I miss her terribly. Mum was my anchor, my mentor and my inspiration. Valerie Loxley Carter, born February 15, 1925; died October 16, 2017, aged 92.