|
OLD CROYDONIANS DEATHS We have been notified of the following deaths and extend our sympathy to the family and friends concerned. Celia Cady (Hills) 1954 died in February 2008 Stella Davies (1944) died in February 2008 aged 81 Marjorie Dean died in 2004 aged 90, sister of Diana Dean
Margaret Edwards (1977) died
in September 2008 Alison Piper (1968) died in March 2007
Stella Davies Stella was born in 1927 and during the war was evacuated to Bradden, Northamptonshire. She studies natural sciences at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating MA. After a period working at the Natural History Museum, where she was Head of a Department specialising in worms, and appears to have worked also, before or after this, as a teacher. Later, and for many years, she worked at St Margaret's School for children with cerebral palsy, being especially concerned with the pupils' physical needs. She also worked as a volunteer with the Winged Fellowship Trust (now renamed Vitalise) which provides holidays for the disabled. Her interest in natural history and particularly her detailed and meticulous study of slugs are well known as she became an internationally renowned specialist in the biology of slugs. From meticulous observations of the slugs in her garden in Sanderstead she was able to demonstrate that the common garden slug was an actually an aggregate of three species, a conclusion recently supported by DNA techniques.
Margaret Anderson Pater, M.A.Cantab My mother attended Croydon High School from 1917-1930 where she was known as Peggy Furtado. She recalled having been good at gym and games, having acted ‘in all the plays I could’ and having resolved, aged eleven, ‘one afternoon in the cloakroom of the Big School … that I would go to Newnham College Cambridge and read French and English, so as to be able to teach.’ When she was in the first year Sixth, the Cambridge syllabus was altered and she had to learn German fast in order to go up to Newnham where she read French and German from 1930-1933. Women at that time were not considered members of the University and, although they took exactly the same examinations as the men, they only obtained the Title of a Degree. She then went to teach French, some Latin and later German at Queen Mary’s High School in Walsall (1933-38) where she also did a lot of games coaching. It was at Cambridge that she met my father, John Edward Pater, who spent his professional life as a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Health. They were married in 1938 and moved back to Croydon with their three children in 1945 as soon as World War II ended. My father went up to London to work while my mother ran the home but she believed in using her time and talents to the full. For many years she did occasional coaching in French or Latin. As far back as I can remember, we had foreign visitors in the house. My mother was active in the East and West Friendship Club in Croydon befriending foreign students and organising weekends in Croydon homes for students from London. She also continued her activities from Student Christian Movement days through her involvement with the University Women’s Camps for Schoolgirls. Both my parents were active in the local Methodist Church where my mother started the Children’s Church, a Wives’ Group and later, with my father, a do-it-yourself Bible Study group where they did the research on the commentaries themselves. She also occasionally gave talks to church women’s meetings. The subjects I remember included hospitality for foreign students, Teresa of Avila and the seven deadly sins. Once we three children had reached university age – our parents took it for granted that we should go to university - her concern for people led to voluntary service on the House Committee dealing with Croydon General, Waddon and Queen’s Hospitals. From there she moved to the House Committee of Warlingham Park Hospital and was instrumental in launching Mind in Croydon, chairing both committees. She served on the Croydon Medical Ethical Committee and on the Mental Health Review Tribunal for the South East Region in the 1970s. The interest in 'foreign visitors' also continued and she had a group of Japanese wives learning English while their husbands were working for a few years in England. Later on, my parents were invited to Japan to visit a number of those families. When my father retired, my parents decided to remain in Croydon where they had their friends and could continue their local activities. My father died in 1989 and at 87, when the garden became too much, my mother moved into a semi-sheltered flat. At the age of 88 she decided she needed a laptop to write her memoirs for the family. She learnt to use it and had the memoirs finished just after her 90th birthday (90 years in 77 pages!). Failing eyesight and advancing age led to her last move in 2005 to Hall Grange, the Methodist Home for the Aged in Shirley, where she had the reputation of always saying “thank you”. From time to time she would say, “I am not doing anything for anyone. It’s a waste of a life!” In this and with her humour and positive outlook she was an example to her family and many others. Compiled by Margaret Ann Pater, (1958)
Alison PiperI first met my friend Alison Piper, who has died from liver cancer aged 56, in 1988 at Ealing College, west London, where she was a lecturer in English language teaching. Before that she worked for the British Council, between degrees from Sussex and Edinburgh universities. She was friendly, practical and supportive, with none of the snobbery one sometimes finds in academic life. She moved to Southampton University as director of the language centre in 1991. After her PhD, she became deputy dean of the arts faculty.
We frequently shared stories
of the peculiarities of academic life and the differences between the old and
new university sectors. She was well informed across a wide range of subjects -
from politics, history and the arts - but she wore her learning lightly, and any
reunion involved a great deal of laughter.
She persuaded sceptical southerners that the
balmy microclimate in the area would mean little readjustment on her part,
although she subsequently admitted she had underestimated some of her figures
for fuel costs. She launched herself into refurbishment, gardening projects and
community activities with typical energy and enthusiasm. She continued her links
with higher education through her work as an external evaluator
for the Higher Education
Council's collaboration programme in modern languages and the Subject Centre for
Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, and other consultancy work.
Alison Piper (1968) was in my year and was senior prefect & head of Christian Union & captain of the hockey team in the 6th form. She went on to read history at Sussex University and subsequently took a PhD, specialising in English as a foreign language studies. Mary Beal (nee Dulley) 1968 |