Our childhood memories consist of LOUD music always being played at home. He wanted to share his passion for big band music, but to us, mostly it was random notes being played far too loudly! He had a great stereo system, but we weren’t allowed to us it, as it was too precious, and heaven forbid Go West or the Bee Gees were played on it. His passion for Stan Kenton held no bounds, even to the extent that he called our house ‘Kentonville’! We remember, though that many letters were addressed to ‘Pentonville’!! which we found very amusing. We both have a love and appreciation of music to thank him for.
We had fantastic holidays, thanks to the generous travel concessions provided by the airline. In 1970 we were in Fiji - nobody we knew had even heard of it, let alone been there! We went to Disneyland in LA and were the envy of all our friends. We also went to Barbados and Hong Kong amongst others which were really exotic a the time. We had pineapples at home on a regular basis, thanks to the pilots bringing them back for Dad from far-flung places - often as bribe to be rostered good trips! Working in the airline industry at that time must have been exciting and ground-breaking and we know he revelled in it. The picture of him at work on the back of the order of service featured in a promotional booklet produced by BOAC. And yes, Dad did bear a striking resemblance to Danny Kaye and was often mistaken for him!! We gained our love of travel from him.
He was an entreprenurial man. We had a rose nursery in the garden where we lived in West End, Surrey and he grew cut flowers to sell - we had a fantastic long garden, which we remember fondly as it was a great playground for us. The rose nursery was then turned into a tennis court of sorts - but it sloped downwards, so you were alright if you were playing at the bottom end! He also had a part time job chauffering an elderly lady to tea once a week - she had a lovely car which he brought home occasionally. He always loved driving and distances meant nothing to him, and he continued to work for a car leasing company when he left BA, driving all round the country picking up and collecting cars, picking up  the odd nick nak along the way.
Our house was always full of ornaments and nick naks, which Dad thought were brilliant and needed to be displayed. We remember his collection of pewter mugs especially, and our poor Mum having to dust them all! His record collection is enormous and the sheer size and weight of it caused many a bowed shelf in the house. We didn’t really understand the need to have so many, and often duplicates of the same LP. Were often taken to second hand record shops on the way to promised outings and having to hang around while he rifled through the records - we remember the smell and boredom!!
We were sad when his marriage to Mum ended, but these things happen in life, and it was also sad when his second marriage ended too. Perhaps he never found the happiness we have found with our partners. He was a challenging person to live with. He was very certain of the way he wanted to live his life and the things he wanted in his life and had a determination to get them. He said he was proud of what he’d achieved, but sometimes we found it hard to live up to his expectations.
He was a sociable man, who loved nothing more than putting on a party - we had many at home whilst growing up and we remember sitting at the top of the stairs watching all the grown ups, eating drinking and dancing. He had a great, quirky sense of humor too - as reflected in the poem in the order of service, and we think we have inherited that.
When we were grown up, we shared an interest in cricket (jeremy) and cruises (Angela) and continued to see him enjoy his life with the drive and motivation he possessed in spades.
His cancer robbed him of a quality of life he wanted towards the end, but for the most part continued to do the things he wanted - making a home in Southwater, joining clubs, going out nick nak shopping, eating out and making new friends. He was still driving until the week before he went into care, and was attending his various jazz events, whilst keeping his garden looking lovely. He had a great energy for life and we will miss him. Rest in peace Dad, we love you.