My aunt Marcia, my fathers younger sister, was the means of bringing my parents together, when my mother and Marcia were both schoolgirls in Okehampton in 1939.  My mother was an unhappy boarder at Okehampton Grammar, a state school, when in those days daily transport from the Devon villages was an impossibility.


Marcia invited my mother, who was six years older, home for friendship and home comforts, which my mother so sorely missed.


It was while a visitor at Eastfield, Exeter Road Okehampton Mildred encountered my father Bertrand and set her sights on him for the future, although at the time I’m sure he was completely oblivious of it.  It wasn’t until after the war that their relationship took off, but not by chance.


Marcia had beautiful long blonde hair and was a very bright pupil in the same year as my mother’s younger brother Gilbert who is still alive and living in Canada.
Only recently Marcia remembered with derision the juvenile antics of my uncle while studying together in the chemistry lab at school.


From the photographs I can see that I adored Aunty Marcia when I was a very little girl, and the feelings were mutual. When I was a little bit older she was entrusted with my care and I can remember excursions and adventures including the most memorable trip to view from the edge of the Mall the trooping of the colour by the young Queen. 


I was completely influenced by Marcia’s love of Scotland and all things Scottish, and likewise her deep knowledge of heraldry, but I wasn’t quite so taken with her other loves of windmills, geology, stamps, coins and Royalty. 


In the last couple of months I unearthed from its special hiding place a 1977 Jubilee Crown that Marcia sent to me with a note I had completely forgotten about, to say she had a spare one and I might like to show this to my grandchildren one day.  I was completely bowled over by this, as the only reason I had dug out the Crown was to show my grandson, now 7, who is very keen on both coins and geology. He now has the coin, and the note.


The one outstanding talent for which Marcia will be remembered is her calligraphy and her amazing everyday handwriting which everyone who saw it commented upon. She gave her talent freely to many organisations in need of something special to be commemorated in writing.


Her forthright manner which I found in equal parts either hilarious or shocking, belied her kind and loyal nature. As a teacher she cared deeply for her pupils and their well-being;  she made lifelong friends Including Joan who she met at Durham University where she studied and rowed for a short while, and her friend Margaret who survives her. She followed Gareth’s career as a writer and collected in a scrapbook all his Radio Times pages over the years. 


Toward the end of their lives, Marcia cared for her brother in law Malcolm at home in the Cherry Orchard during Nadine’s illness, and later  the two sisters were able to support each other sharing Marcia’s home at Kenward Court.   


This was no light task for someone who had suffered a disability for her whole life.
We all know that she was born with talipes or club foot with both feet the wrong way round which were brutally but only partially corrected in line with the limited medical practice  at the time. She suffered more than her fair share of pain. 


Finally we are all grateful to ‘Know Who We Are’ thanks to Marcia’s in depth research into and presentation of our Family Tree. 


Avril