Hugh Griffith Jones

Hugh Griffith Jones

1915 - 2005

Born: 17th June 1915

Birthplace: 31 Acris Street, Wandsworth, London

Parents: John Griffith Jones and Louisa Maude Lee

Addresses: 31 Acris Street, Wandsworth, London

31 Wandsworth Bridge Road, Fulham

Roseleigh, Bratton, Wellington, Salop

2 Hillside Avenue, Canterbury, Kent (1946-1954)

31 Ethelbert Road, Canterbury (1954-1957)

21 St Annes Road, Whitstable, Kent(December 1957-1979)

4 The Orchard, Lerryn, Cornwall (1979-1989)

20 Grove Road, Hethersett, Norwich (1989-)

Married: Queenie Beryl Garrington

St Luke’s Church, Redcliffe Square, London

31st January 1940

Children: David John Griffith Jones (1942)

Robert Glyn Griffith Jones (1947)

Anthony Hugh Griffith Jones (1950)

Died: 1st March 2005, Saxlingham Hall, Norwich, Norfolk

Buried: Cremated 30th March 2005

Occupation: Manager, Henry J Greenham Builders Merchants

Details:

31 Acris Street, Wandsworth where Hugh G Jones was born in 1915

At the time of his father's death in 1919 Hugh, aged 4, was staying with his grandparents house in Aberdovey. He continued to stay up there for sometime, but when his Aunt Lala expressed the desire to adopt him, his sister Ethel was sent post haste up to Wales to bring him back.

For more photos of Hugh when young see here. Hugh subsequently studied at the Royal Masonic School, Bushey, Hertfordshire, between 1927 and 1933 and matriculated in 1931.

Hugh in 1927

Hugh on the rugby team 1931

Old Masonians RUFC 1st XV 1934-35 season. Hugh G Jones front left, aged 19

Hugh originally wanted to become a dentist and did in fact obtain a scholarship to go to medical school at Guy's Hospital. Unfortunately he did not achieve the right grades in his examinations and rather than stay on for another year at school, he decided to get a job in order not to burden his mother any more. On leaving the Royal Masonic School Hugh joined C Tennant & Sons Ltd of Mincing Lane, London. He stayed there for one year before joining Henry J Greenham, a builders merchants firm, in 1935. He joined this company at the invitation of his brother, John Henry, who was rapidly becoming a force within the company. The brothers had visions of eventually branching out on their own and re-establishing John Jones (Chelsea).

Leslie, Louisa Maude & Hugh - about 1937

1939 Census - 29th September 1939

The original can be found here

Extract from Hugh’s autograph book:

In August 1939 I went on holiday with Bill Livsey. He had an uncle connected with a shipping line who arranged for us to go in a cargo ship <the Egret> from Manchester to Rotterdam. . It was a nice trip down the Manchester Ship Canal and around the coast. We were paying 5/- (five shillings) per day for our food and fed like “fighting cocks”. When we landed at Rotterdam we saw a cheap flight advertised to Cologne where we had a good look around the city. Whilst there we also saw a cheap flight to Frankfurt with a return trip up the Rhine by steamer. Bill Livsey got friendly with the girl in the Lufthansa office in Cologne who promised that she would ring us at our hotel in Wiesbaden if the military situation deteriorated. In Frankfurt it was very evident that Germany was mobilising as troops were everywhere. We stayed at the “Opelbad Hotel” in Wiesbaden and late in the evening we had a telephone call to say we should get out as soon as possible as war was imminent. We had a lovely trip up the Rhine back to Cologne on the steamer and caught the bight plane from Cologne to Rotterdam after a lot of questioning at Cologne airport. The plane was a JU52 and it was my first night flight. When we got to Rotterdam we went aboard the ship which sailed almost immediately for Liverpool. Bill Livsey had to report to the Navy as he was a reservist and became Engineer Commander on the “Ark Royal”. He survived the war after winning the DSC but died from a heart attack in approx. 1953.

Hugh on board the Egret 1939

I went back to work with Greenhams and in January 1940 I heard that the Master Builders Federation were forming ARTIZAN Works Companies in the Royal Engineers to undertake construction work with the BEF(British Expeditionary Force) in France. I contacted Rupert Holloway of “Holloway Bros” who were forming a company but he was full up and gave me an introduction to George Parker of Peckham who was also forming a company. He accepted me and I was told to enlist at the recruiting office at Isleworth on 28^th January 1940. There I was asked what trade I wished to enlist in and although Electrician was the highest grade for pay I thought it was too dangerous so I elected for carpenter. I was then asked whether I was a “carpenter” or a “joiner”. This “threw” me so I said I specialised in “Field Carpentry”. This threw them and I was “in” as a carpenter and was told to report to Chatham on February 8^th to join 693 ARTIZAN Works Co. RE. < His army number at this time was No: 1915466>

I was married on Wednesday 31^st January at the church in Redcliffe Square in the snow and we spent our honeymoon night at the Langham Hotel. Our Wednesday lunch was at the Picadilly Hotel and it was just a family party. On February 8^th I was taken down by car to Chatham by Pip Furnell after several stops at pubs on the way and I was quite happy when I arrived at Chatham! There I was in a barrack room with about 30 other blokes and in the night the advantages and disadvantages of nearly every prison in the country were discussed. It seemed that they had all been sampled including the little Irishman opposite who had sampled “Sing Sing” prison in America. Also very late there were some latecomers who were absolutely drunk and tried to smash the place up including urinating in the fireplace. \in the cold morning there was only one cold tap for the lot of us.

We trained for 3 weeks, got inoculated etc and on the 3^rd March we marched down to Chatham Station led by the RE Regimental Band to entrain for France. We landed at Le Havre early in the morning and as we had to wait until evening for a train I lay on a concrete ledge on one of the warehouses overlooking the sunken remains of the ship “Atlantique”. It was a lovely sunny day and I remember the radio blaring out Judy Garland’s song “Over the Rainbow”.

Hugh in late 1939

We left Le Havre at night and in the middle of the night the train grounded to a halt with much commotion. Major Parker sent for me and when I got to the Officers compartment there was French Railway captain jaberring way in French. “See what the French F***ker wants” GP instructed me. It appeared that one of the bogey wheels on the carriage had set alight the woodwork. It was soon under control and we went on to Bapaume, NE France, our first stay. The French Railway captain worked for Cooks and understood GP’s English!!. Here we were billeted in a farm yard and we slept on straw palliases in a freezing barn. Originally we were going to work on an airfield at Grevilliers which was our nest stay. This was only for a day or so and we were split up into sections at Perronn: Poix, Allonville Bertangle ( i.e. the old first world war airfields). < Hugh also remembers working on the HQ of the Advanced Air Striking Corp on Vimy Ridge, where the buildings were mostly underground concrete structures.>

I was attached to HQ section with Don Oliver, Ron Westaway and Basil Hart and we moved down to the airfield at Glissy near Amiens where we were until the “phoney war” ended. I was appointed “Interrupter”- <sic> to Major Parker and I used to go around the sites and into Amiens with him. Life at Glissy was almost civilised. When we first arrived the Nissen huts were in sections and we had no tools. Luckily some French telephone engineers were working nearby and we were able to help ourselves to tools!! Our quarter master Ginger Russell and his helpers were adept at helping themselves from Ordnance stores and we were well looked after. I managed to wangle some wire netting from the local ironmongers in Amiens on a local purchase order and we soon all had comfortable beds. When the Jerrys broke through <May 1940> we were in Glissy and that night we had our first air raid. The next day we moved out to a village in the vicinity of Sains en Amiens. There was no running water here and GP soon had the road up to connect the Officers Mess to the mains. <By this time the French were streaming past their positions in an absolute panic. The company was ordered to Dieppe and as soon as they got there they were ordered back to very near their original positions. This put them virtually right in front of the whole British army>

Then we heard that Jerry had broken through at Rethel and we were soon on the move. We travelled all day and came back to Dieppe but it was all confusion. We then had orders to go back to Peronne area. We were encamped there near a railway line when a sergeant MP came along the railway line on a motor bike to say that the Germans were in the next village. It was “panic” stations and we set off to Boulogne. On the way we were separated as a section took the wrong road. They eventually finished up at Le Mans and were evacuated from St Nazaire having just missed the “Franconia” which was sunk by enemy action in the harbour. Don Oliver and Jack Williams were in this section and they rejoined us in England some weeks later. We, on the other hand, had quite a trip to Boulogne. I remember the lovely weather and as I was sleeping in ditches it could have been worse! . <At this time Hugh took over as the Company Commander's car driver. It was fortunate for him because shortly afterwards the headquarters truck was bombed and casualties included the orderly room sergeant (badly injured) and a clerk (killed). If he hadn't been driving the car he may well have been travelling in the truck. Because of the orderly sergeant's injuries Hugh was promoted acting sergeant in his place.>

When in May 1940 we were on the run in France, we were sent to Sains en Amienois near Amiens and then to a village near Dieppe. Whilst there orders caught up with us and we were sent back to a village near Perronne. Whilst on the move the Quarter Master’s truck was set on fire by an incendiary. I was sent back on the back of a despatch riders motor bike to see what was going on. When I got there we found the Quarter Master busy piling his stores books onto the fire. Carrington the despatch rider and myself (on back of his bike) then went into the nearest village for help to put out the fire. We went into the local estammet where everybody was drinking up before the Jerries arrived. One was so drunk he said he was prepared to “die for France” and would come back to help. Eventually the fire brigade turned up pushing an old fashioned hand cart which had a pump which was operated by pushing the handles at the side of the cart up and down. I need hardly say that our “imprest” account went missing in the fire! That was “Fiddler” Russell the Q.M. for you!!

When we arrived at Boulogne it had been made ready for a rear-guard action. We bivouacked in a square above the town. And I remember seeing Jerry planes caught in the searchlights. There were demolitions being carried out and transports were being driven into the sea and docks <It was Hugh's job at this time to immobilise the company transport and make sure that they were all dumped into the docks. On May 22nd 1940 an Isle of Man steamer transported his company to Dover. On May 24th the Germans entered Boulogne. The evacuation of the rest of the British army followed from Dunkirk between May 27th and June 4th.>

The boat that took us off had brought some of the Rifle Brigade who carried out a magnificent rearguard action finishing up in Calais. When we arrived back at Dover there was German aircraft overhead the harbour. From Dover we entrained for an unknown destination where we stayed a couple of nights. I believe it was Tidworth as the camp we were in was very regimental. As our Company Office Sergeant had been badly injured and the corporal had been killed on the Company truck which had been hit on the outskirts of Boulogne I was put in charge of the Company Office and promoted. <From there the company was moved to Chester. Hugh remembers being billeted in the Tote House on Chester Race Course and wandering around the town of Chester with only French money on him and nobody wanting to exchange it> . From there we were sent to Donnington Camp Shropshire to work on the new ordnance dump which had been moved from Woolwich. The main contractor Henry Bolt was short of labour and we were sent to help. < This must have been the end of May or the beginning of June. Donnington was being developed as a large munitions dump and the theory was that as Donnington lay in the shadow of the Wrekin, the Jerry bombers wouldn't be able to find it. > We had to move the cows out of the way before we could make camp and we were there until approx December 1941 when we were moved to Malvern. Life at Donnington was fantastic. We “lost” a steam roller- it had been hired out by one of the sergeants! We also purloined a piano from the dump. We had it on a lorry when an alarm was given that MPs were looking for us. Luckily we were able to hide the piano under cement sacks.

Sometime<September?> towards the end of 1940 Garry was walking down the Kings Road, Chelsea when the air raid sounded. She was hit close to the eye by a piece of shrapnel. Although at the time she was working at the War Office she got my Ford Prefect out of the garage and rove up to join me in Shropshire. At first we in digs at Lilleshall and then we heard that the vicar had a small cottage to let. It was an asbestos hut and we shared it with Don Oliver and Kathy his wife. By that time I was a full sergeant and I shall never forget coming home from the sergeants mess on Xmas Eve 1940. Luckily the Oliver’s present was a bottle of aspirin! I also will never forget Don Oliver practising “In the mood” on his saxophone in the early morning. Unfortunately (or fortunately as it turned out) Garry pushed me through the asbestos wall and we were given notice to quit. Ron farmer’s sisters were in Admaston and Phyll and her husband George, told us that a new couple had moved into “Roseleigh” in Bratton Village. We called and Nana and Gaga <Frank and Ada Nevill > were fitting carpets. It was agreed that we would have our own bedroom and sitting room but gradually we became so friendly that we lived “ensemble”. This we did until I went to OCTU at Llandridnod Wells in February 1942 < In the years to come they all became firm friends and to us boys they seemed like second grandparents.> We were very happy at Roseleigh and I even managed with the help of the chaps from the camp to lay in water from the mains. This was done without notifying the local water board! I had a triumph 500 motor bike which was a “brute” and I nearly knocked down the Brigadier over one day on my way to the camp. I was also stopped one morning by MPs to test the colour of the petrol. To this day I still do NOT understand how it came out clear as I could see my sergeant’s stripes going from being found out with WD petrol.< However, it was whilst driving a car down to a friends wedding in the South of England that Hugh and Beryl passed through Coventry on the night after the big raid. Hugh and Beryl recall the tremendous damage done at the time and how they had to drive over hose after hose to get out of the smouldering city>.

<Hugh and Beryl look back to their time at Donnington with much affection. Not only because of the friendliness of the Nevill's and their relations and neighbours but also because of the good spirit that existed within the camp at the time. From Donnington Hugh moved onto Malvern and he remembers spending Christmas 1941 there. His soldiers pay book can be found here. In February 1942 he was sent to the Officer Training Unit (OCTU) at Llandridnod Wells for training for the mobile heavy Ack-Ack> During one particular exercise Hugh remembers moving out of Llandridnod during the middle of the night in a large convoy to fire the guns at Towyn - then a firing camp. The guns were large 20 tonners and were pulled by large tractors. Hugh was sleeping in the back of a truck when all of a sudden it came to a halt. Looking out he realised that he was immediately outside Glaslyn, Aberdovey. Walking up to the front door, donned in steel helmet, camouflage uniform and all, he caused a panic because Aunt Lala thought that he had come to requisition the house for army purposes. Once they realised who he was they made him very welcome!

David was born at Roseleigh in July 1942. I was at OCTU and the news reached me at tea time in the dining room of the Hotel Metropole. I was ducked in a “Dixie” of cold tea to celebrate.

I was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in September 1942 and reported to 112 Regiment HAA at Forest Fach Swansea .< His army number in the Royal Artillery was No: 243383> together with Maurice Hadfield. One of the other officers was Joe Gaskell (of Gaskells Brewery) who did a cartoon for me. Maurice and I “tossed up” for a position and he was sent to Gibraltar where he became Garrison Adjutant. I was then posted to 110 Regt, a Northern Irish Regiment and found them at Southend for mobile training. The Irishmen in 110 Regt were a great crowd. After Southend we moved to Margate for Xmas 1943, then to Chartham and were then sent to Leeds to mobilise for overseas. Whilst at Leeds I had appendicitis and after an operation at Wakefield hospital I was taken off the mobilisation list. After convalescence I was told to report to 110 Regt at Chew Magna in Somerset and was with a battery at Flax Boughton. My movements with 110 Rgt were:

Mobile training again at Southend

Ipswich

Bournemouth

Highworth Swindon

Exeter

Dymchurch

Sheppey

At Sheppey I was transferred to the mobile AA Room 108 AAOR and it was with them I went to France a few weeks after “D” Day. Our first objective was Le Havre and after it was captured we moved in. From there I went to Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais, Antwerp. It was in Antwerp that I was in command of the operations room when Jerry sent in at night a record number of “doodlebugs”. We had taken over from the marines whose officers mess had been hit by a bomb with many casualties. From Antwerp I went up to Rosendaal and then to Walsrode in Germany to join Brigade HQ as assistant I.O. We were billeted in a beautiful house belonging to Herr Wolff, the owner of the nearby munitions works. We could not put him inside as he was the only one who knew how to look after all the nitro-glycerine stored in the woods We were only a few miles from Bergen Belsen and our job was to help repatriate the Belsen prisoners. Conditions were ghastly in the camp and I remember one of the colonels say that he was worried as his men were so appalled that they were taking reprisals on the SS guards

Hugh in 1943

In April 1943 Hugh joined a new unit, the 110 Heavy Ack Ack regiment. He was stationed for a time at Chew Magna, Somerset (just by the Cheddar Gorge). Shortly afterwards the regiment was sent off to mobile training at Southend. Then followed duties at Bournemouth (the guns being sited on the rubbish tip) where he celebrated Christmas 1943. From there the unit was sent to Honiton, Devon, where they stayed at Rockbeare Manor. Then to Swindon where they stayed at High Cliffe. The unit tended to be sent to protect places bombed during the Baedekker raids. After Swindon came New Romsey, Kent, where the unit was responsible for protecting the spares for the Mulberry harbour and for shooting down V1's that were passing overhead on their way to London. Hugh thinks that he saw one of the first V1's to go across England. Then came Sheppey, Kent when the V1's changed their track and tried to head up the Thames Estuary.

In May 1944 Hugh joined the 109 Ack Ack mobile operations room. He wasn't in the original wave of landings in Normandy (June 6th 1944) but went across to France several weeks later and moved into Le Havre just after the 51st Highland Division had taken it. Hugh recalls how grim it was. The Allies had bombed the centre of the town - but the Jerries had manned the forts on the outskirts of the town and the only casualties were French civilians. A lot of French had been killed in the raids and the British troops were not exactly popular !

Due to Hugh's skills as a map reader, when leading a very large convoy consisting of a very large radar set and mobile operations room, he mistook the Paris road for the road to Rouen and nearly liberated Paris all on his own long before the Allies got there!

From Le Havre his unit moved onto Dieppe, Calais (where he spent Christmas 1944), Ghent (staying a week or so) and Antwerp. At Antwerp he recalls that he was duty officer the night when a record 176 flying bombs blasted the town. "The Place just shook". From Antwerp he moved onto Rosendal, Holland and then to Walsrode- near Belsen in Germany. There they had the job of shipping the inmates out of the concentration camp. It was during this unpleasant time that he was promoted captain.

On the 31^st December 1944, I was sent to Brussels to collect a more up to date radar set for our ack/ack operations room. I was billeted at the Leopold Barracks which were ancient, decrepit and stand of bad drains. I noticed on a notice board that the Halle Orchestra with Barbirolli were giving a concert that evening and along I went. It was a super concert and the Halle were superb. Afterwards I was making my way back to the barracks along the main street when I saw a café open and sounds of merriment so I slipped in for a quick drink. An audience was grouped around an acrobatic dancer. In the front was a tubby little major, who was well and truly well away. Every time the dancer did the splits, he gave a big moan and covered his eyes with his hands. The audience loved it and were laughing their heads off. After the act finished there was an argument at the bar and a Canadian soldier struck an officer. Immediately there was a rush for the exit before the MP’s arrived. The door was a wind down grille and I was lucky to do a limbo dance underneath it. Was I glad to get back to the barracks!

Next morning I collected the radar which was a huge thing with separate transmitter, receiver and generator. I was leading the small convoy in my jeep down the main boulevarde out of Brussels when a flight of German fighter planes came towards us at treetop height. Luckily they did not strafe us as they would have destroyed us. They were conserving their ammo for a blitz attack on Brussels Evres Aerodrome

From Walsrode we were moved to take over from the Americans at SIEGEN. There was a big POW camp here full of all nationalities and we were repatriating them.

In May 1945 I was lucky to get a leave in Paris and had a night sleeper from Antwerp. We were booked in at the King Edward VII hotel on the Rue du Rivoli which was run by the Salvation Army who charged 5 shillings a day and ran the hotel very well (and no pushing religion). I have always thought since- “God Bless the Salvation Army”. The next day was V.E. day and the celebrations at the officers club in the Rue St Honore were terrific. Most places were closed but we did visit the Paris mosque and in the evening went to the Opera House and saw the ballet. The end of the war found us in Walsrode, Germany near to Belsen Concentration Camp where we helped in evacuating some of the prisoners. We were billeted in a house belonging to a Herr Wolff who owned the nearby explosive works. The woods were full of explosives and Herr Wolff was allowed to remain free so as to keep it dampened down. From Walsrode we were moved to Siegen where there was a large camp for displaced persons. We were billeted in a posh girls boarding school “Stiff Keppel”. I was then promoted to staff captain as Brigade Intelligence Officer until Demob in Febriary 1946 at Hereford. At Siegen we were with 49 (Polar Bear Div) who when containing the jerries in Holland had fixed themselves up as an Officer’s Club with a lovely Dutch honeymooner hotel at Nunspeet on the Zuider Zee.. I went there with my jeep and had a lovely leaver. I went sailing at Kampen and visited a Van Beunigen house with lots of original Van Gogh and other artist pictures on the wall.

23^rd April 1945, Holland

The army issued a document celebrating the end of the war. When the war ended Hugh and Beryl thought of emigrating to New Zealand. In the end they decided not to because of their two widowed mothers. Hugh was offered the job of Manager of the Canterbury depot of Henry J Greenham (Builders Merchants) by his brother Jack who by this time had become a director of the company. Beryl stayed up in Shropshire whilst Hugh looked for accommodation, basing himself at the Fleu de Lys at Canterbury. He found Hillside Avenue, a new semi-detached house selling for 1200 pounds. They took the house and proceeded to live in it for 8 years - from 1946 to 1954. The house had just been built and because of war restrictions they were unable to sell it for more than the price they had originally paid for it. These restrictions were lifted in 1954, just before they moved to 31 Ethelbert Road. This was a beautiful house situated on the southern outskirts of Canterbury, close to the Kent and County Hospital and Cricket Ground. Hugh had used all his knowledge of building materials to design a house which was pleasing to look at and comfortable to live in. The family lived there from 1954 until December 1957. It was then sold for 4000 pounds! The family moved out of the house prematurely for a number of reasons. At the time brother Jack was having serious problems with the management of Greenhams and Hugh was anticipating that he would shortly have to look for another job as a result. Not only did he want to realise some capital from the house, in case the blow came, but he also wanted to be nearer a main line station on the Kent Coast in case he had to go up to London to work. Whitstable fitted the bill nicely, especially as his boys were all clamouring to live on the coast.

Hugh was to become Kent area manager for Greenhams and for a few years served on national building commodity committees. I believe he enjoyed his time as manager there. As a young boy I can recall thinking it a great treat to be able to accompany him on several Saturday mornings to his office. After a while I was allowed to serve customers - much to my delight. In a regional shake up of Greenhams in 1969, Hugh was made redundant. Between 1969 and 1977 he worked for Frank Cooper's, another builders merchant firm, was made redundant again after the company was bought out and then retired.

Hugh at Kynnersley, Shropshire 1959

On the terrace at Windylees

With Nana and Gaga at Windylees

Family at Shoreham 1961 visiting David

Hugh in 1961

Hugh at Almunecar

Hugh in 1977 with Robert at degree ceremony in Cambridge

Hugh in 2002

Family holidays included:

1946 Salop

1947 Salop and Local

1948 Salop and Local

1949 Le Touquet (Hugh and Beryl only)

1950 Salop and Local

1951 Llyngwril

1952 Llyngwril. On both occasions we stayed in a guest house near the

beach. Memories of Rain, baked beans and seals.

1953 Sandgate, Kent. We rented a beach hut and commuted backwards and

forward from Canterbury.

1954 Tankerton

1955 Crantock, Cornwall. We rented a caravan for 2 weeks and stayed on a

small site near to the coast. The Andertons, friends of ours from

Canterbury, were camping nearby and we frequently met up with

them.

1956 Tankerton

1957 Trewince, Cornwall. We rented a caravan and a boat. The caravan was

sited in a farmer’s field.

1958 St Tropez. We rented a caravan situated on the beach close to

Grimaud and St. Maxime. The campsite was serviced by a tannoy

which rendered the Colonel Bogey tune day and night.

1959 Kynnersley, Salop Stayed in a caravan on the Ford's farm at

Kynnersley Manor. Memories of farmyard smells, foxes getting at the

chickens...

1960 Tankerton

1961 Locarno, Switzerland. (For Hugh, Beryl and Robert). Staying at the

Albergo Verbania. Tony had been dropped off at the Reims, where he

was staying with the Clausell family.

1962 Brighton. Staying in David's flat.

1963 Salcombe, Devon

1964 Tankerton

1965 Wales

1966 Wales

1967 Almunecar, Spain

1968 Onich, Scotland

1969 Greek Cruise

1970 Cornwall, Polyjoke

1971 Cornwall

1972 Cornwall

1973 Welsh canal trip

1974 Fens canal trip

1975 Cornwall

1976 Cornwall

1981 New Zealand

He was always the loving family man and was respected by all who knew him for his honesty, intelligence and integrity.

Hugh and Garry had been married for 65 years and often referred to each other as the “other half”. It was a great bonding of two kindred souls and stood the test of time. That strong and loving relationship provided the bedrock for the happy family life that their 3 sons were to enjoy. It was wonderful relationship and he was a wonderful, supportive unassuming man. He will be sadly missed.