Extraordinary LiVES
MY MOTHER-IN-LAW MYRA
MYRA’S life was spent in the world of military families and involved a lot of foreign postings. She was born in Cologne, Germany, where her father was serving in the postWorld War I British Army of the Rhine. Her early childhood was spent in Britain, but when she was 13 the family moved to her father’s new posting in Malta and soon afterwards on to Gibraltar. There she met Jim McAndrew, a soldier in the Royal Artillery. They married when Myra was only 18. Over the next decade, they moved around as Jim was stationed in
Egypt and Libya, and they had a son, Ken, and daughter, Carolynne, my future wife. On returning to Britain, at various times the family was stationed in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The constantly changing home environment and the need to keep forging new friendships as old ones are left behind makes for a demanding life that can overwhelm many military wives. But for Myra, who had grown up with this nomadic lifestyle, it was normal and she met the challenges head on. What’s more, she valued belonging to the wider family of the military community. By the early 1960s, the family was
based in England, at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and then Larkhill, Wilts. Jim had been promoted to major and Myra, her children having grown up, trained to be teacher. She taught at the primary school at Larkhill Garrison, where she and Jim were quartered. She loved her new career and empathised with the children she taught — they came from military families going through the stresses and strains with which she was all too familiar. She was a wellliked and respected teacher. When Jim died in 1972, Myra carried on alone, living in
Salisbury and teaching at Larkhill until retiring in 1981. The following year, she married Tom Field, another Army man who served in the Royal Engineers and a family friend who was also widowed. After ten years of being alone, Myra was very happy to have a partner again. But just two months after their wedding, Tom died of a heart attack. In her final decades, Myra threw herself into the life of her local community. A devoted Christian, she worshipped at St Thomas’s Church in Salisbury and helped organise its social events. As secretary of the Salisbury Conservative Association, she loved to debate the issues of the day, but always listened to others — a rare quality. A voracious reader, she was eager to keep learning more about the world, right up until the end. Myra lived her life to the full and all of us in her big, loving family — which includes eight grandchildren, six greatgrandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren — feel her absence greatly.
WINIFRED Myra Caroline Field, born July 6, 1923; died November 21, 2020, aged 97.