Jean was born in Thetford on the 7th June 1932 along with her identical twin sister Mary.   Jean, Mary and their younger sister Anne, spent a happy childhood despite World War 2 making life hard for all. 

Jean was a very caring person and she loved being in the St John’s Ambulance Thetford Branch and she looked very much the part in her smart uniform.  At school Jean loved sport and was successful at hurdling, netball and rounders.   

On leaving school she started a job looking after children and then took up a job in Thetford Canning factory where she took a shine to a young man called ‘Fred’.   The family joked that the only reason she thought Fred was an attractive catch was because she saw him driving a car and also in a boat on the river – neither of which did he own as they belonged to the person Fred was doing occasional work for in Thetford, he did however have a bicycle!    Fred and Jean courted and enjoyed old time dancing, they were married on 29th May 1954, 68 years ago, it was a very happy day and it was a long and happy marriage. Susan Mary was born in 1957. 

Jean loved cooking and baking, if you visited there would always be cake or other home-baked treats to be shared.  Jean also loved gardening and tending plants and taking cuttings in her greenhouse and growing seeds for the garden.  Jean loved looking after her peach tree and harvesting its fruit.  There is a magnificent beech tree in the back-garden which she grew from a beech-nut. Her many houseplants included Orchids, African Violets and Streptocarpus, which were some of her favourites.   

Jean loved her holidays and despite being afraid of heights took to flying and visiting the mountains of Austria, Yugoslavia and Switzerland; she was our very own Julie Andrews.  Jean kept a holiday diary and could tell you where they had been and what had happened on any given day – down to what was on the menu and she loved taking holiday photos and reliving holiday memories.  Jean loved many happy holidays in Norfolk in latter times with all the family often celebrating anniversaries and birthdays. 

Her love of sport stayed with her throughout her life and she enjoyed watching tennis and especially Wimbledon, her favourite player was Andy Murry who she often gave advice to through the TV screen when he wasn’t playing at his best! Jean enjoyed watching films and always had an amazing recall of the film stars names.  She loved quiz shows like Tipping Point and the Chase and was often quicker than the contestants in giving correct answers! 

For Christmas one year Sue and Kevin bought Jean and Fred an iPad which Jean really loved using and Fred was allowed to look at.  In her 80’s she took to emails, Skype calls, all things Google, BBC news flashes and Amazon!  She emailed Sue every day and even asked for her iPad in her recent hospital stay. 

Jean was a wonderful wife, mum, sister, sister-in-law, mum-in-law, and auntie and she was loved so much by everyone.