Jan Humphreys - The Family Tribute
Born and raised in Porthmadog, North Wales, to John and Elsie Davies our Mum was one of four siblings,
Gwynn, Helen and Mair.
Well before she was ten years old the family moved to Liverpool where, alongside her sister Helen, she
faced the challenge of learning a new language.
The family lived in Rockfield Road, Anfield, to start with until the now larger family moved to Wirral in
1955. Mum often said that the move to Palm Grove paved the way for some of the happiest times of her
young life. She remembered the fun and laughter but mostly she valued the lifelong friendships made during
that time. Of course, it was there, through the Youth Fellowship across the road at Palm Grove Church that
she met our Dad, Bill. As children we remember the laughter at that church and the parties in our home and
those of others.
Our Mum was undoubtedly blessed with talents. Her abilities in needlework, first practiced as a seamstress
in Henderson’s Department Store in Liverpool, were later shared in colleges and schools across the Wirral
when she became a lecturer in soft furnishings.
She worked incredibly hard, at times working two or three classes per day, followed by curtain making for
clients in the evenings. In addition she taught flower arranging to her student and often decorated the
church. We both recall occasional shouts of pain after one of us had stood on pins, holly leaves or upholstery
tacks! Mum formed happy friendships with her students and again, many of them lasted a lifetime. We
would like to thank Robbie and the Girls for their friendship with Mum.
Despite living so far from her own family - her Mum and Dad, sisters and brothers were always in her
thoughts. She insisted upon regular contact with them and we guess that somehow everyone will still expect
a call from her!
There were challenging times in our Mum’s life; the health of her first born son, her own health difficulties,
and the death of her husband Bill. In very recent years, Mum also felt the loss of her nephew Barry, her
father and only months ago, her own mother.
Certainly, friends came into their own both during and after these times.
We would like to thank all her neighbours at St Seiriol Grove and Egerton Road for being caring friends to
Mum.
Mum was also a great friend to others and in the recent words of one of her close friends
“Your mum had a gift for making people feel special and valued. She was also so warm hearted and
generous and longed to help anyone in trouble.”
Mum tried to pass on to us how it is the little things that are so important in life - the importance of family
and friendships. Christmas was always a special time for her and we remember a time when she asked us to
collect a few toys that we no longer played with. Without fuss or much explanation, she took us to visit a
neighbouring children’s home for us to pass them on. This was her way of showing us how fortunate we
were. And we were.
Mum was often full of surprises. Just a few weeks ago she stunned us by playing Silent Night on the piano,
after not having played for many, many years - a very special memory that will stay with us always.
Above all, mum had the ability, in her own unique way, to make us laugh. She leaves us with many happy
memories – some simply funny:
Funny, in the way that she would go straight to the front of the queue in shops much to the annoyance of
everyone in front of her, in the way she put the phone down leaving us in mid sentence during a phone call,
and in the way she could never sit still long enough to have her hair done.
We remember the way she loved and enjoyed her grandchildren. Only recently, there was a memorable
occasion when Mum, aged 71 played hide & seek with William. She knelt down to hide behind the kitchen
table where he just couldn’t find her. Despite the fact that she was melting next to a very hot radiator, she
would not give up her hiding place. William said that he couldn’t find her anywhere ‘...she was amazing!
Amazing is a good word to describe our Mum and both Ffion and Wlliam loved and enjoyed her too.
Our Mum enjoyed her relationship with her daughters in law Julie and Janice. To them both we say a huge
thank you.
We would like to thank everyone for coming today to say goodbye to a very special person and all those
people who have rung and written to us in the past few weeks.
Good night mum, and no more worries.
Now, to that tribute from her two sons I would like to add just a very few words and I want to begin by
saying that Jan’s death came as terrible shock to many of us. Some of us wept, and others of us were moved
with a swell of emotion, when we heard the news. This was so, I think, partly because she had been in
relatively good health so there were no warning signs of what was to come, but more than that, I think it
was because Jan was so loved and lovable. She had a wonderful way about her, sometimes odd and a bit
child-like but always sincere and good-hearted, that endeared her to us so, and made us feel a special
affection for her. “Hello dear” and “How’s the family” and “don’t worry pet” all delivered in her own
unique way, are phrases that will ring in our ears and perhaps bring a smile or a tear to our faces for some
time to come. The word “pet” is a word that I think I will now always associate with Jan as she seemed to
use it of almost every woman and girl in the church. I don’t think that she every used it of me, but such was
the affection with which it was spoken, that I don’t think it would have offended me if she had. I, of course,
did not know her in her younger years when I am told that she was glamorous, and creative, and industrious
and refined; when she could transform a church with her artistic flare, and work long hours and lecture
large groups of college students. She was less refined in my time, and perhaps more vulnerable, but no less
wonderful . And indeed, her lack of refinement may have been one of the things that made her precious to
us. She was….. just herself, without any airs or pretences ….and in being …..just herself cared and loved and
did her very best.
I was told that one of her favourite Bible Readings was Psalm 23, so that was the passage that I was asked to
read earlier about a God who cares for the vulnerable and Shepherd who sustains and feeds and sees his
sheep through the valley of the shadow of death. We don’t know what is to come after this life. It is a
puzzle, isn’t it, about which I think we do well not to claim too much. We don’t know but there something
about a God who loves us just as we are, whoever we are, come life or death, who never lets us go that
makes for reassurance and confidence and even celebration on a day like today. This is the God in whom Jan
believed and this is the God who is with us and her even now.
Friends Remembered
Rosemary Matheson
Rosemary was born on May 9th, 1922, the youngest of four children to her parents, Alfred and Norah
Couper, in Watford at the family home. Her siblings were Peggy, Peter and Patty and she seems to have
had good relationships with all of them, particularly with Peggy who, eight years older than Rosemary, was
almost a second mother to her. At the age of six, Rosemary went to a P.N.O.U. School at the Church Hall
of St Michaels’ C of E, and three years later she sat and passed the entrance exam for the Watford Girls
Grammar School. In her biography she wrote “The Grammar School education was very mediocre
compared to the Grammar Schools of today,” and then, as candid as she could sometimes be, she wrote of
that particular Grammar School “It didn’t do much for me and I didn’t do much for it!” Rosemary believed
in telling the truth about things, didn’t she, and sometimes, when she did, she could be more than a little
entertaining.
With her family she attended St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church where she became a Girl Guide and a
patrol leader. “The church” she wrote, “provided the main source of entertainment in those days, with the
Sunday School Christmas party and the summer outing to a farm, being the highlights of the year. “
Rosemary trained as a cake maker and when the War came in 1939 she went to work at “Cookery Nook” ,
a tea room owned by her sister Peggy, that did lunches, home-made takes and hot drinks. In 1942 she
volunteered for the WRNS and became a visual signaller. Surprisingly, this required not only that she had
good eye sight but also a doctor’s certificate to say that she had sufficient teeth with which to masticate. In
her biography she wrote, “I did then, and I do now!” During the War years she worked in a variety of
situations, faced a number of difficult challenges, and made some wonderful friends. She was demobbed
in Plymouth in October of 1945 and received a good report stating that she was pleasant, keen, a very
good worker, and suitable for re-entry. She wrote, “It was really quite sad leaving Plymouth. I had loved
being in the WRNS and, as there was a war, I wouldn’t have missed serving in the forces.
After the War she did another period of employment with her sister in the Cookery Nook and after that she
went off to Denmark where she worked for six months as an au pair. After that, she got a job as a cook at
Westminster Theological College in Cambridge and, of course, it was there that she met a Presbyterian
theological student by the name of Charles Wallace Matheson. They got engaged on 22nd of February,
1955, and in the words of Rosemary, “I think that Charles spent all of the money he had on the
engagement ring.” Life was very happy and they were married on March 24th, 1956 in the College Chapel.
Duncan was born in Oct of 1958, and Margaret (I was told that if I called her Maggie at this point
Rosemary might well come back and haunt me!) was born in November of 1962. Their first ministry was in
Wolverhampton, where the manse, she wrote, “ was ENORMOUS, very cold, without any comforts, and not
a single cupboard in the whole house. Ministers these days,” she said, “live in luxury compared to what we
had live in fifty years ago!” In 1963 Charles received and accepted a call to go to their second place of
ministry, in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, where they had six happy years. After that they came to Upton where
they had their last ministry. It was there, of course, that people around here got to know them and when
Charles retired, they became members at this church, which then became a benefactor of their faith,
wisdom and love.
Rosemary did a great deal for this church and for its people. She sang in the choir, she was a leader in our
prayer group, she visited the house bound, she wrote cards to people who were unwell, she reminded me
of things that needed to be done, she corrected me sometimes when I got things wrong and occasionally,
in the nicest sort of way, she even told me off. What’s Rosemary was quite a good back seat driver. On
those occasions when I drove her to something I often felt the assurance of having two pairs of eyes, not
one, because, in an effort to help, she would tell me when to go, and when to stop, and when it was
alright to get into the other lane. But I was fortunate, we were all fortunate, to have had such an honest,
warm hearted, straight-talking, loving friend. The text that I read, from the book of James, is about the
importance of how we live, and it says something about the kind of person that Rosemary was. She read it
at our prayer group more than once because, I think, belief by itself was not enough for her. If our beliefs
are to count for anything at all, it is not enough just to speak about them. We have to live them and in her
own wonderful, frugal, courageous way, Rosemary did exactly that.
Jan Humphreys & Rosemary Matheson
Gwynn, Helen and Mair.
Well before she was ten years old the family moved to Liverpool where, alongside her sister Helen, she
faced the challenge of learning a new language.
The family lived in Rockfield Road, Anfield, to start with until the now larger family moved to Wirral in
1955. Mum often said that the move to Palm Grove paved the way for some of the happiest times of her
young life. She remembered the fun and laughter but mostly she valued the lifelong friendships made during
that time. Of course, it was there, through the Youth Fellowship across the road at Palm Grove Church that
she met our Dad, Bill. As children we remember the laughter at that church and the parties in our home and
those of others.
Our Mum was undoubtedly blessed with talents. Her abilities in needlework, first practiced as a seamstress
in Henderson’s Department Store in Liverpool, were later shared in colleges and schools across the Wirral
when she became a lecturer in soft furnishings.
She worked incredibly hard, at times working two or three classes per day, followed by curtain making for
clients in the evenings. In addition she taught flower arranging to her student and often decorated the
church. We both recall occasional shouts of pain after one of us had stood on pins, holly leaves or upholstery
tacks! Mum formed happy friendships with her students and again, many of them lasted a lifetime. We
would like to thank Robbie and the Girls for their friendship with Mum.
Despite living so far from her own family - her Mum and Dad, sisters and brothers were always in her
thoughts. She insisted upon regular contact with them and we guess that somehow everyone will still expect
a call from her!
There were challenging times in our Mum’s life; the health of her first born son, her own health difficulties,
and the death of her husband Bill. In very recent years, Mum also felt the loss of her nephew Barry, her
father and only months ago, her own mother.
Certainly, friends came into their own both during and after these times.
We would like to thank all her neighbours at St Seiriol Grove and Egerton Road for being caring friends to
Mum.
Mum was also a great friend to others and in the recent words of one of her close friends
“Your mum had a gift for making people feel special and valued. She was also so warm hearted and
generous and longed to help anyone in trouble.”
Mum tried to pass on to us how it is the little things that are so important in life - the importance of family
and friendships. Christmas was always a special time for her and we remember a time when she asked us to
collect a few toys that we no longer played with. Without fuss or much explanation, she took us to visit a
neighbouring children’s home for us to pass them on. This was her way of showing us how fortunate we
were. And we were.
Mum was often full of surprises. Just a few weeks ago she stunned us by playing Silent Night on the piano,
after not having played for many, many years - a very special memory that will stay with us always.
Above all, mum had the ability, in her own unique way, to make us laugh. She leaves us with many happy
memories – some simply funny:
Funny, in the way that she would go straight to the front of the queue in shops much to the annoyance of
everyone in front of her, in the way she put the phone down leaving us in mid sentence during a phone call,
and in the way she could never sit still long enough to have her hair done.
We remember the way she loved and enjoyed her grandchildren. Only recently, there was a memorable
occasion when Mum, aged 71 played hide & seek with William. She knelt down to hide behind the kitchen
table where he just couldn’t find her. Despite the fact that she was melting next to a very hot radiator, she
would not give up her hiding place. William said that he couldn’t find her anywhere ‘...she was amazing!
Amazing is a good word to describe our Mum and both Ffion and Wlliam loved and enjoyed her too.
Our Mum enjoyed her relationship with her daughters in law Julie and Janice. To them both we say a huge
thank you.
We would like to thank everyone for coming today to say goodbye to a very special person and all those
people who have rung and written to us in the past few weeks.
Good night mum, and no more worries.
Now, to that tribute from her two sons I would like to add just a very few words and I want to begin by
saying that Jan’s death came as terrible shock to many of us. Some of us wept, and others of us were moved
with a swell of emotion, when we heard the news. This was so, I think, partly because she had been in
relatively good health so there were no warning signs of what was to come, but more than that, I think it
was because Jan was so loved and lovable. She had a wonderful way about her, sometimes odd and a bit
child-like but always sincere and good-hearted, that endeared her to us so, and made us feel a special
affection for her. “Hello dear” and “How’s the family” and “don’t worry pet” all delivered in her own
unique way, are phrases that will ring in our ears and perhaps bring a smile or a tear to our faces for some
time to come. The word “pet” is a word that I think I will now always associate with Jan as she seemed to
use it of almost every woman and girl in the church. I don’t think that she every used it of me, but such was
the affection with which it was spoken, that I don’t think it would have offended me if she had. I, of course,
did not know her in her younger years when I am told that she was glamorous, and creative, and industrious
and refined; when she could transform a church with her artistic flare, and work long hours and lecture
large groups of college students. She was less refined in my time, and perhaps more vulnerable, but no less
wonderful . And indeed, her lack of refinement may have been one of the things that made her precious to
us. She was….. just herself, without any airs or pretences ….and in being …..just herself cared and loved and
did her very best.
I was told that one of her favourite Bible Readings was Psalm 23, so that was the passage that I was asked to
read earlier about a God who cares for the vulnerable and Shepherd who sustains and feeds and sees his
sheep through the valley of the shadow of death. We don’t know what is to come after this life. It is a
puzzle, isn’t it, about which I think we do well not to claim too much. We don’t know but there something
about a God who loves us just as we are, whoever we are, come life or death, who never lets us go that
makes for reassurance and confidence and even celebration on a day like today. This is the God in whom Jan
believed and this is the God who is with us and her even now.
Friends Remembered
Rosemary Matheson
Rosemary was born on May 9th, 1922, the youngest of four children to her parents, Alfred and Norah
Couper, in Watford at the family home. Her siblings were Peggy, Peter and Patty and she seems to have
had good relationships with all of them, particularly with Peggy who, eight years older than Rosemary, was
almost a second mother to her. At the age of six, Rosemary went to a P.N.O.U. School at the Church Hall
of St Michaels’ C of E, and three years later she sat and passed the entrance exam for the Watford Girls
Grammar School. In her biography she wrote “The Grammar School education was very mediocre
compared to the Grammar Schools of today,” and then, as candid as she could sometimes be, she wrote of
that particular Grammar School “It didn’t do much for me and I didn’t do much for it!” Rosemary believed
in telling the truth about things, didn’t she, and sometimes, when she did, she could be more than a little
entertaining.
With her family she attended St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church where she became a Girl Guide and a
patrol leader. “The church” she wrote, “provided the main source of entertainment in those days, with the
Sunday School Christmas party and the summer outing to a farm, being the highlights of the year. “
Rosemary trained as a cake maker and when the War came in 1939 she went to work at “Cookery Nook” ,
a tea room owned by her sister Peggy, that did lunches, home-made takes and hot drinks. In 1942 she
volunteered for the WRNS and became a visual signaller. Surprisingly, this required not only that she had
good eye sight but also a doctor’s certificate to say that she had sufficient teeth with which to masticate. In
her biography she wrote, “I did then, and I do now!” During the War years she worked in a variety of
situations, faced a number of difficult challenges, and made some wonderful friends. She was demobbed
in Plymouth in October of 1945 and received a good report stating that she was pleasant, keen, a very
good worker, and suitable for re-entry. She wrote, “It was really quite sad leaving Plymouth. I had loved
being in the WRNS and, as there was a war, I wouldn’t have missed serving in the forces.
After the War she did another period of employment with her sister in the Cookery Nook and after that she
went off to Denmark where she worked for six months as an au pair. After that, she got a job as a cook at
Westminster Theological College in Cambridge and, of course, it was there that she met a Presbyterian
theological student by the name of Charles Wallace Matheson. They got engaged on 22nd of February,
1955, and in the words of Rosemary, “I think that Charles spent all of the money he had on the
engagement ring.” Life was very happy and they were married on March 24th, 1956 in the College Chapel.
Duncan was born in Oct of 1958, and Margaret (I was told that if I called her Maggie at this point
Rosemary might well come back and haunt me!) was born in November of 1962. Their first ministry was in
Wolverhampton, where the manse, she wrote, “ was ENORMOUS, very cold, without any comforts, and not
a single cupboard in the whole house. Ministers these days,” she said, “live in luxury compared to what we
had live in fifty years ago!” In 1963 Charles received and accepted a call to go to their second place of
ministry, in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, where they had six happy years. After that they came to Upton where
they had their last ministry. It was there, of course, that people around here got to know them and when
Charles retired, they became members at this church, which then became a benefactor of their faith,
wisdom and love.
Rosemary did a great deal for this church and for its people. She sang in the choir, she was a leader in our
prayer group, she visited the house bound, she wrote cards to people who were unwell, she reminded me
of things that needed to be done, she corrected me sometimes when I got things wrong and occasionally,
in the nicest sort of way, she even told me off. What’s Rosemary was quite a good back seat driver. On
those occasions when I drove her to something I often felt the assurance of having two pairs of eyes, not
one, because, in an effort to help, she would tell me when to go, and when to stop, and when it was
alright to get into the other lane. But I was fortunate, we were all fortunate, to have had such an honest,
warm hearted, straight-talking, loving friend. The text that I read, from the book of James, is about the
importance of how we live, and it says something about the kind of person that Rosemary was. She read it
at our prayer group more than once because, I think, belief by itself was not enough for her. If our beliefs
are to count for anything at all, it is not enough just to speak about them. We have to live them and in her
own wonderful, frugal, courageous way, Rosemary did exactly that.
Jan Humphreys & Rosemary Matheson