Inseparable in life, they stayed together until their final days
CATHERINE AND JASPER HADN’T MET WHEN THEY CAME TO THE UK FROM JAMAICA IN THE 1950s. BUT ONCE THEY GOT TOGETHER THEY WERE THE HEART OF A HUGE, LOVING FAMILY AFTER 60 years of marriage, both died surrounded by people Jasper and Catherine Calder were they knew and who loved them.” inseparable. So it seems only fitting Both Jasper and Catherine – that, after a lifetime of love and who was known affectionately by happiness, they should leave this everyone as Blossom – were born Earth together too. in Jamaica and came to the UK
The couple from Longsight in between 1956 and 1957. Manchester were buried after Jasper came alone, passing away just days apart. while Catherine Family and friends bade their arrived with her farewells at a joint funeral that was then husband, packed with prayers, poems and who she later their favourite hymns – one, divorced.
sung by their youngest daughter, Patricia.
She says: “It’s a blessing that they have gone together. Mam always said that she didn’t know what she would do without Dad.
“On the day Dad died, Mam, who suffered from dementia, held his hand and simply said, ‘I love him.’
She passed away four days later.
The two of them couldn’t have been more different. Jasper had left school at 10 to help farm the family’s land, and was unable to read and write when he arrived in the UK. He was nevertheless hard-working, finding jobs as a
speciality chemical firm Victor Blagden & Co in Old Trafford, before he was made redundant aged 55.
“Dad sometimes had to get up at four in the morning and get three buses to work,” says Patricia. “And yet he brought me a cup of tea every morning before he left – until I was 15!”
She goes on to say that Catherine was very intelligent and had qualified as a teacher back home. She retrained as a nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary – before a road accident ended her nursing career and left her with walking difficulties. She later became manager of a nursing home.
The pair met after being introduced by Catherine’s eldest brother, Phonso. “Apparently, Dad had told Phonso, ‘I’m going to marry that little woman there,’”Patricia says, “to which Phonso replied that it was his sister!
“He introduced them.”
And Jasper did, indeed, go on to marry Catherine.
The couple lived in various areas of Manchester before settling in West Gorton, then finally in Longsight.
They had four children together – Patricia, Maureen, Leslie and Ian – adding to the 11 children they had between them from their previous relationships.
“We all kept in touch,” says Patricia. “Mum would get us to write to our siblings and we’d always get letters and photos back.”
Faith and family held Jasper and Catherine together – and they doted
We’re here to help you arrange the funeral you want, in the safest possible way, so you can say your best goodbye. on their children. “When we were playing rounders in the street, Dad would often join in,” Patricia says. “We had a lovely, happy childhood.”
Later in life, Jasper, a talented artist – who before his death, Patricia says, was offered an exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery – learned to read and write at Longsight Library, where he also met lots of new friends.
Together, Catherine and Jasper shared a love of horse racing, enjoying visits to the bookies after carefully studying the form – something they were good at. And they delighted in their 39 grandchildren and 48 great-grandchildren.
Jasper was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago, and Catherine suffered with dementia. They passed away peacefully at home after short periods of illness.