Sheila Irene Marston was born to Albert and Beatrice Marston in Leyton, Essex, 20th March 1932, was one of a twin - the twin boy died at birth. Sister pam who was 5 years older who sadly passed away in March of this year.
Sheila was a devoted wife of 54 years to John Francis Andrews and a loving mother to Gary and Caron, mother in law to Sally. Sheila was blessed to have 4 grandchildren who she adored, Natalie, Daniel, jade, and Bethany and 3 great grandchildren Harrison, lottie and Elle..
Sheila lived in Leyton with her parents, sister, grandma and gwen her cousin who she thought of as a second sister. They moved to Loughton in 1940 and Sheila went to school at the Catholic convent, Woodford and was taught by the nuns. After the blitz of 1940 she moved to kings Langley in 1942 and went to school at Abbots Langley and then Holy Rood at Watford.
Sheila wanted to be a teacher and passed the test for grammar school teaching course and also the technical college exam at the same time. As times were hard her parents could not afford for her to do the teaching course and then university so she went to Watford technical college to do the 2 year commercial course.
Sheila met her husband John Francis Andrews at Watford youth club aged 15 years. He went into the forces soon after and lost touch. 2 years later whilst home on leave they met up again at a dance in Watford, started dating and got engaged September 22nd 1951, aged 19. Sheila married the love of her life 28th March 1953 just after her 21st birthday. They had 54 years of Happy marriage. Sadly, John was taken ill in 2004, he ended his days with severe brain damage in a nursing home 3rd October 2007. Those last 3 years of their marriage were extremely hard on Sheila, she was the devoted wife and was by his bedside daily, she showed such strength that we admired her for.
Sheila went to work at Manarcos in Kings Langley as a clerical /secretarial assistant aged 16 years. Once married they moved into a flat in Watford and Sheila went to work at North and south electric in the accounts department. Then in 1956 John got TB and was in hospital and then a sanatorium for a year. Once recovered they moved to Exeter as John was advised not to travel to London anymore. Sheila then went to work as a receptionist for radio rentals.
After several miscarriages and fertility treatment Gary was born in May of 1962. Due to John's work promotion they then moved to Brighton where Caron was born in the October of 1963.
In 1965 they moved again, to frome in Somerset to go into business with uncle Ernie in a newsagents. Sheila went to teach in the local convent school. Unfortunately the business didn't work out and in 1967 they moved to Chelmsford in Essex where they remained for the next 50 years.
During this time Sheila worked at Boswells school in the school melas. Gary and Caron were young and the job enabled her to have school holidays and hours to enable her to be there for them. Sheila finished her working life at the University in anglia ruskin as a library acquisitions assistant where she served for 21 years retiring at 65.
Sheila had osteoarthritis and was diagnosed with mixed dementia early 2017. Gary and Sally did what they could for her and were a great support but as her mobility and health declined the family decided to move her to Bournemouth in June 2017so Caron and Mike could care for her for her remaining days. Sheila went into hospital October 9th with an infection, sadly she declined rapidly and the dementia got the better of her, she passed peaceful at last 11th November 2021.
Sheila had a long and for the best part a happy life. In her younger days she loved dancing. From the age of 5 years she did tap dancing and ballet till the War broke out and had to stop. She later went on to form a dance troop and teach tap dancing at the guild of Saint Agnes connected to the Catholic Church where they put on numerous concerts and shows. Her love for dancing continued and Sheila and John went at least twice a week and were members of a ballroom dance and sequence dance club and had many medals and trophies won from dance competitions on holiday. They were still dancing until John was taken ill. They were also members of a bowls club.
Sheila and John enjoyed their foreign holidays together and weekend /mid week breaks at Warner hotels and Manor House where Sheila loved the pottery classes, glass etching, and floral arranging.
Sheila was blessed to have a loving family, her and John spent a lot of time with David and Peter, pams children, when they were growing up and thought of the boys as their own, they always had a special place in their hearts.
Sheila had some life long friends in Joan and Derek and joy and Roy. Joy and Sheila met at youth club when they were about 13 and became inseparable at weekends staying at each others houses. They had their first holiday together at caster holiday camp when they were about 17, a memorable week by all accounts.! Sheila met John and Joan met Roy and together the 4 of them cycled all over Devon on their tandems, staying in youth hostels where they were made to peel 100 weight bags of potatoes - a memory never forgotten! Sheila was bridesmaid to Joan and a week later joy was matron of honour to Sheila. They remained friends to this day!!
A happy life, a lot to be grateful for.
We will always love you mum and miss you.
Xxxx