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WESTONBIRT ASSOCIATION
RECENT DEATHS
(Names on this page are listed in the order in which the webmaster hears of them, most recent at the top. Some earlier deaths are listed here)
Now some are wed, and others dead
So long that they’re hardly missed
Save by us, who were with them years ago:
But we're all in the old School List.
(from JK Stephen (1859-1892, an Etonian) “The Old School List”, with slight modifications for a better fit with Westonbirt )
(The deahs of the following will be listed in the 2025 Association News)
Jonathan Luke Bryan, sec 93, was born on 27 January 2006 and died on 5 June 2025 (see here and here). Having joined some Westonbirt classes via Zoom during Covid lockdowns, he became a pupil at the school in the Autumn term 2022. In 2024 he received a June Jacobs Award (see the 2024 issue of the Association News) and went on to Bath Spa University to study Creative Writing.
Dinah Mercy Twumba Reindorf (Quashie-Idun) sec 27, died aged 86 on Sunday, 8 December 2024 (see here) A photograph of her with her parents is in the National Portrait Gallery in London - see here. She was in Dorchester. Her older sister was also at Westonbirt. Hearing of Dinah's death, someone 3 or 4 years youner than her recalled an occasion when Dinah came up to a group of juniors giggling outside the Parlour (the name of the room in which the members of the Parlour, equivalent to other schools' prefects, gathered), pointed an index finger at them and said ‘You, who do you think you are, to say that the Parlour guzzle?’ They scattered but quoted her for years afterwards!!
Dinah had 2 sons (one of whom predeceased her) and a daughter. A Burial Memorial & Thanksgiving Service was held on Wednesday, 22nd January 2025 at All Souls Chapel, Lashibi Funeral Home, Accra, Ghana (see here)., at which tributes were paid to her with, in particular, thanks for her effect on Ghanaian music over more than half a century. (See also here and here and here.)
The Membership Asistant found out about her death by chance from the Internet and informed the School.
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(The deaths of the following were listed in the 2024 Association News)
Heather Owen (Grange) sec 24, died in 2024. She was an Honorary Member of the Association, in appreciation of her work as Acting President when her predecessor, June Wenban, became ill and died. (See 1989 Association News for more about June Wenban). Heather had also been the Association's Representative on the Governors.
Jenny Ewing (Wallace) sec 24, died in 2024.
Jean Edwards (Wates) sec18, died 26 September 2024.
Patricia Drew (sec 24) died in early June 2024. Known as Puff to her contemporaries, .she remained in touch with some all her life . Her News in 1996 said that she was still teaching at the Oxford College of Further Education while very involved with print-making at home and with the Oxford Print Makers and that her painting of the Chhristening of King Cynegils by St Birinus in 635 was in the Dorchester Museum. The Oxford Print Makers announced her death (see here) on 18 June 2024, saying that she had been a very active force in the workshop for many years, certainly in the 1990s and earlier 2000s, organising many successful exhibitions while an artist, designer and teacher in her own right. She had also been very instrumental in gaining lottery money in the late 1990s for equipment and building works which were still in use and much apprecisated when she died. They were pleased that they had been able to stage her final exhibition in 2023, and also make her an honorary member. The Oxford Art Society (see here for an example of her work) described her as a beloved artist and long-standing member.
Primrose Unwin (Priday), sec 23, died 12 February 2024, peacefully at home in Northleach. The announcement of her death in the Telegraph (here) described her as beloved wife and mother (naming her husband and three daughters) and a much loved grandmother and great grandmother.
Cyrilla Potter (Monk) sec 26, died 19 January 2024 (see here).
Jenifer Springett sec 22, died 3 Januaty 2023 in the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, aged 87 (see here)
Dorinda Lafone (de Courcy-Ireland, lately Hooper) sec 13, was born 15 May 1925 and died 9 September 2024, aged 99. Her time at Westonbirt was at Bowood and Corsham during the evacuation in WW2. A cousin, who had been at Westonbirt herself but at least a decade later than Dorinda, informed the School.
Fiona Jane Leith (Goodbody) sec 47, died in mid- August 2024 of the very aggressive cancer that had been diagnosed eight weeks earlier. One of her contemporaries informed her section representative. Fiona was in Holford, with sisters in sections 44, 45 and 49. A memorial page is here; it includes photographs.Jennifer Springett sec 22, died in January 2023. Her solicitor informed the school. She was in Gloucester.
Jean Evans (Roxburgh) sec 15, died in 2022. She had last submitted News in 2015. In 2006, she had reported the death of her husband of 58 years and, in 2007, that her four daughters were helping her cope. One of her daughters told Jean's section representative that Jean had died very peacefully in hospital after admission four days earlier with cardiac failure. Her three surviving daughters, four grand-children and a son-in-law were at her side in shifts, and all in the last few hours. Jean had lived with her daughter and son-in-law for the previous five years, enjoying views over the garden, a retriever dog and a Siamese cat. She had been well but frail and needing help in daily living. She was interested in news, politics and family events until her last few days. Her daughter said they had been very blessed and very close.
Patricia Mary Rudland (Hopkins) sec 31, died peacefully in hospital on 15 June 2022. A member of her section informed their section representative. A notice of Patricia's death is here. (The Probate Calendar shows the year of her death.) She married in 1968, had two children and three grandchildren, and was survived by her husband.
(Frances) Rosemary Francis (Walton), sec 17, died on 18 August 2023. Her son informed the School.
Sarah Beattie (Trollope) sec 19, ,born on 4 April 1931, died on 29 October 2023, surrounded by her family. Her son informed the School. A notice of her death is here.
Linda Angell (Northcroft, lately Morley) OBE, sec 29, died peacefully on 9 October 2023, aged 82. She was in Holford, and had a sister in each of sections 30 and 32; the older of whom informed the Membership Assistant. Linda had regularly sent in news for the Association News, and includied, in 2013,, the death of her husband Philip Morley . Her second husband, Granville Angell, died in September 2022, aged 89 (see here). Linda left children and grandchildren from her first marriage - sadly, her third child had died in 2003; Linda's funeral was on 31 October at St Stephen's Church in Cannock.
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Some earlier deaths are listed here)
last amended 10 October 2025
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