The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Bletchley Park veteran and his wife die within three days of each other
Lieutenant Colonel Cyril le Gassick, part of the Bletchley Park code-breaking effort and a man who helped plot the position of the Bismarck, and his wife Steve, have died three days apart.
Jean (Steve) le Gassick died suddenly at home near Inverurie on May 23 aged 91. Cyril le Gassick died on May 26 after a short illness aged 96. The couple had been married for 65 years.
In later life Colonel le Gassick was Grampian director of the National Trust for Scotland, a fisherman, golfer and artist. His name features on the Bletchley Park roll of honour. Mrs le Gassick had been a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service and the Women’s Royal Army Corps. In later life she was a champion bridge player and golfer.
Cyril Norman le Gassick was born in Maidstone, Kent. The le Gassick family had been Huguenots. His father had fought at Ypres and the Somme, and retired as a captain.
Cyril, known as Sandy because of the colour of his hair, and the youngest of three boys, was educated at Maidstone Grammar School where he joined the army cadets.
He was not quite 15 when war broke out but was determined to do his bit. He used his exceptional height and claimed to be older in order to join the Home Guard.
His aptitude for maths and familiarity with Morse Code led to his recruitment to an organisation that intercepted enemy signals and fed them to Bletchley Park, where he was based for a time. Sandy also played a part in plotting the position of the German battleship Bismarck whose sinking gave the country a morale boost.
After the war, Sandy was commissioned into the regular army and served in India and Palestine. It was during a posting to Germany in the 1950s that he met his future wife, Steve. Her first husband had recently died, so Sandy also became father to Wendy.
In the 1960s, the family moved to Singapore where Sandy was awarded an MBE for his work.
In 1967, Sandy and Steve bought Pinewood Cottage, Pitcaple.
Steve le Gassick was born in Louth, Lincolnshire.
After the death of her first husband, she married Sandy at Richmond, North Yorkshire, and their son Stuart was born in 1958 in West Ewell, Surrey.
Steve was an accomplished bridge player, a knowledgeable gardener and voracious reader as well as a keen member of the senior ladies at Inverurie Golf Club.
Her daughter Wendy Greenfield said: “Whilst their deaths, so close together, have been an immense shock for family and friends, after 65 years of marriage, with their mutual respect, joint interests, and shared humour, perhaps it is not surprising that they took their leave of us within 72 hours of each other.”