Jim Switzer 1931 - 2023

Dad and his twin brother, Ronald, were born in Epsom in 1931. They went to Pound Lane School, where Mum also went (but I don’t think they knew each other at that stage) and then on to Glyn. They were evacuated to Barrow-in-Furness for nine months and as there was no school for them to go to, roamed far and wide. Dad learned to swim in an old quarry.

Dad was always the sporty twin and Ronald was the academic one. I knew this but found evidence in Ebba’s Scrip, where Dad appeared in the first team for football and various other sports, and Ronald won the physics prize.

It has never been quite clear when Dad first met Mum, but I believe they used to ‘hang out’ behind Woolworths, and they were members of Ebbisham Sports Club from an early age. Dad’s father was Canadian and the family went to Canada in 1947 as ‘returning Canadians’, and they appear to have been away for two months and missed school. When they arrived back, they were walking through Victoria Station and ran into Mum, on her way home from work, and I think that’s where it all really began. I once asked Dad how and where he had proposed to Mum, and he said he hadn’t really; they’d just sort of known they would get married, and then he bought a ring!

Dad’s parents and Ronald decided to return to Canada to live, and Mum and Dad married in February 1955 so that they could all be at the wedding. Mum and Dad followed them to Canada a little later (1956, I think) and intended to stay for ever, but unfortunately my grandfather died suddenly and Mum and Dad returned to Epsom with my grandmother, who had no family in Canada and wanted to come home. During the period spent in Canada, Dad started working as an engineer, and continued as an engineer throughout his working life.

We always said Dad had ‘itchy feet’, and we went to live in the USA on three occasions during my first ten years. Each time we came back, and as I approached secondary school age, Mum and Dad decided we wouldn’t go again. My grandmother lived to be ninety-five and couldn’t be left for any length of time, so Mum and Dad stayed here until her death in 1995. After that though, there was no stopping them, and they went to North America at least twice a year. After Mum’s death in 2016, Dad continued to go to Canada, and in fact he had a trip booked for May.

Dad always loved to travel and didn’t mind too much where he went. He loved transport and the whole experience of moving about. After Mum died, he came on holiday regularly with my husband and me, and often with my mother-in-law too. On one of our early trips, we were delayed seven hours on a German train, and still Dad loved it! I had to use my elbows and shout ‘Mein Vater is sehr alt!’ in order to get him a seat.

Dad played sport all his life. He played football and cricket for Glyn Old Boys (though he always insisted he didn’t really like cricket!) and was a member of the Epsom and Ewell Harriers in his twenties, along with Mum. As far as I know they didn’t rejoin on their return from Canada, but Dad did return to the club in 2016, after Mum had died. He was the age 85-90 British Record holder for the discus and was very keen to win the 90-95 record, but unfortunately that didn’t work out for him. He also played squash all his life and reached the GB team when he turned 70. He played in the over 70s, over 75s and over 80s. He tended to play racketball after that, but despite his best efforts, the powers-that-be didn’t start a GB Vets team for that!

Dad stayed in touch with a number of old school friends, particularly those he later played football with, and attended the old boys’ dinner every March.

Dad was a brilliant grandad to our two children, Alex and Joanna. He supported Alex on the rugby pitch and occasionally came to one of Joanna’s concerts, though that was more Mum’s department. Of course if the concert was abroad, that was different! He came with me this January (2023) to watch her play in Salzburg and Linz. He didn’t like Joanna walking home late at night, so he started a taxi fund for her, which he used to top up periodically.

Unlike Mum, Dad didn’t suffer a protracted illness or even a gradual decline. He’d had some circulation problems but those had been sorted out and he was back playing racketball. He died exactly as I think he would have wanted to: on the squash court. He’d texted me that morning to say that all was well, and simply went for a sit down between racketball games that afternoon, then fell gracefully sideways, onto one of the other members.

Obituary written by Jim's daughter Jane