Mum, Myrtle was born Myrtle Sophia Levy in North London in 1923 second of four siblings, they were Myrtle, Queenie, Eric and Vivien.
In 1936 their mother Rose died, quite suddenly, and as many of you may already know and with the deftness of a character from a fictional crime story their father slipped the country.
This left four somewhat bewildered children without their parentsand effectively orphaned.With Myrtle aged only 13 they were taken in, firstly by their grandparents, and then by one of their aunts who already had four girls of her own. They all lived in a massive house in Amhurst Park.
With Queenie being the oldest (and therefore able to look after herself) and Eric being a boy, Myrtle adopted her younger sister Vivien and there started an 80 year relationship with Myrtle becoming Vivien’s self-styled surrogate mother.
Myrtle left school soon after and was encouraged to go to work. Over the years all the siblings have told us that these years were not the happiest for them and so the looming war years probably gave them a chance to leave that home and become independent.
Myrtle joined the Navy as a Wren and was stationed on the front line in Portsmouth. How a sweet Jewish girl from North London fared with all those sailors has never been explained properly to us.
During the war Myrtle was introduced to Ralph, who would eventually become her husband but first when she met him she pointed out that the buttons on his RAF uniform were a bit dull and unpolished. She must have meant something to Ralph because the following week when they met again his buttons were polished to perfection.
They continued to date during the war including the year or so when Dad was posted to the east, and I mean to Singapore via Ceylon not Gants Hill.
After the war and Dad’s return to Blighty Myrtle and Ralph married on in March 1948.
In those early days after their marriage they lived in East Molsey, Surrey in another massive house which they rented unfurnished but with protection from eviction. An opportunity arose where the owner, fed up with a lousy controlled rent they were paying,put the property up for sale at auction. Mum & Dad as sitting tenants were able to buy the property and Dad sold it the same day for double. This gave them the opportunity for house purchase and they used the profit as a down payment on a house in St Andrews Drive, Stanmore. They moved in.
Myrtle and Ralph were in no hurry, I was born six years later and Philip three years after that.
Vivien and Stanley who also married in 1948 lived 1 mile or so down the road in Kenton. During those 1950s and 1960s we were inseparable from the Samuels family. Myrtle and Ralphjoined Kenton Shul because Viv and Stan were members. They shopped together, we holidayed together, we were sent to the cubs together and the scouts. In 1991 when Stan passed away, Mum and Viv became even closer as they supported each other.
Myrtle was a fantastic cook, her meals were legendary. Her disrupted childhood left its mark and she was never happier than being involved in family get togethers.
For many years Myrtle was the Ladies Guild secretary at Kenton and an early memory is of a large heavy typewriter on the dining room table. There was something in that volunteering which rubbed off on her grandchildren with them working or volunteering in the Jewish community.
Myrtle worked as a bookkeeper for many years although now she might be called a financial controller and she probably retired in her mid-50s.
She loved gardening and was often seen on her kneeling mat weeding something, planting something else or taking cuttings of this and that. She could make orchids re-bloom when the rest of us had long given up.
About 15 years ago we were made aware that the four siblings had a half brother by their father who had deserted them back in 1936. He had emerged in Canada in the late 1940s and his son Jack Levy, their half brother, was the result. Jack has been and remains a joy to know. So our uncle Jack who is barely a handful of years older than all of us cousins arrived on the scene. It is Jack who should by rights be amongst the mourners today but as he lives in Canada it is understandable why he is not here. Myrtle and Vivien travelled to Canada 9 years ago to see Jack at his home and I know they had a good time.
When Philip and I married Gabby and Karen Myrtle got the daughters she had long wanted. Myrtle had four grandchildren Joanna, Jonny, Katie & Anthony who together with their spouses Marguerite, Ben and Hannah will all miss her terribly. The birth of Jonny and Marguerite’s twins Florence & Theo in 2015 made Myrtle a very proud Great Grandmother she loved going round to see them on a Friday afternoon reciting nursery rhymes to them that probably came from her own childhood.
About two and a half years ago Vivien’s health faltered and she was unable to look after herself and so moved to a care home in Watford. Myrtle went to visit Vivien almost every day. Some days Vivien was asleep with her head on Myrtle’s shoulder, some days she said nothing but Myrtle went there irrespective. She always hoped Vivien would improve but it was not to be.
In February of this year Vivien passed away. This loss was probably too much for Myrtle to bear. After 90 years together and after being, as I said, the surrogate mother and best friend of Vivien, Myrtle must have known that her obligation and lifelong reason d’etre had come to an end. Within a few weeks Myrtle deteriorated and following a fall was admitted into hospital where her consciousness and her very life essence slowly drained away. It was always her wish that if she ever had to go into a care home it was to be a Jewish care home. We were able to get her a bed in the Jewish Care home, in Frien Barnet, but she was only to be there four short days before she passed away. She was 94 just a few weeks ago.
It has been a long Journey there have been big ups and downs but she was loved to the end, a special lady and a true eyshet chayil who touched so many people’s lives in so many different ways.