Farewell Uncle John
April 1, 2008
I’m going to a funeral this morning. It’s for my Uncle John who died recently of pancreatic cancer – remember I mentioned him a few times on the blog. Now, I have four uncle Johns, all great guys, but in case anyone I know is reading – this is the one who was a professor. He was born in Grimsby and worked as a milkman while he did his doctorate.
He looked exactly like you would expect a Prof to look – gangly, balding with round specs. He had a marvellous sense of humour, was bursting with knowledge and if you got talking to him, you would come away inspired.
He was fascinating and compelling man who did a tremendous amount for university education in the UK and abroad and was awarded the CBE. My current wip is dedicated to him and I did manage to show him the manuscript a few months ago while he was still relatively well. He seemed amused and I think, delighted.
It will be a sad day as he was not even 70 and like anyone we admire and love, he still seemed to have so much experience and knowledge to give the world and life to live – plus he leaves a large family.
Here’s one small anecdote. Uncle John spent Christmas in Lanzarote and stil felt well. He joined in the hotel table tennis tournament and even at his age, very ill, he thrashed every single person. They didn’t know he’d been a county player in his youth!
So farewell, Uncle John – now I’ m crying and not, I guess, for the first time today.
PS Weirdly, yesterday, something Very Good Indeed happened too that as usual, I don’t deserve. Of that, more on another day.
Posted by Phillipa @ 4:57 am | Leave a Comment
liz Says:
((()))s thinking of you. Hope it is a beautiful service.
Debs Says:
Sorry to hear your sad news. Your Uncle John sounds a wonderful chap. Hope you are ok.
Dx
Nell Dixon Says:
Hugs. Thinking of you.
Phillipa Says:
Thanks. It was a very moving service and afterwards there was a ‘wake’ in a local hotel where, as you might expect, we all swapped memories.