Jean Deacon (Bulley), 1929-2021

Jean was a regular at alumnae events and is very fondly remembered by many colleagues past and present as well as former pupils.

Her daughter Ruth Deacon, Class of 1978, attended LEH in the Sixth Form, and has kindly written this: "Jean attended LEH as a pupil between 1941 and 1946 obtaining her school certificate before she left for the world of work at the age of 16. She then worked at the NPL in Teddington, where she met our father Thomas and started a family in the late 1950s.

After raising her children, she then worked at LEH as the Physics Lab technician from September 1969 until her retirement in December 2000, working for a large portion of that time for the Head of Physics, Mary Haines, who also taught me when I studied at the school for my Sixth Form between 1976 and 1978. 

Jean was a remarkable woman – active, attractive and energetic throughout her life until the final month or two. I’m sure that the physically demanding job she did at the school for so many years contributed significantly to her active lifestyle and her continued good health into her 90s.

She was a talented water-colour painter and gardener, committee member of the Hampton Horticultural society; she played sports and athletics in her youth and won more than 40 trophies at Hampton Bowls Club in her 70s and 80s.

She was also a devoted mother and grandmother. She lived in Hampton throughout her life, and has many friends in the area to whom she brought love, inspiration and a great sense of fun.

Her husband Thomas died suddenly in 1987 and she is survived by her three children, David, Ruth and Diane and her four grandchildren, Florence, Eleanor, Ellen and Alexander.

Of course, we miss her enormously and are adjusting to life without her, but are comforted that she lived a long, healthy, happy and productive life and was unwell only for a short time."

The photo below (you have to be logged into your Holles Connect account to see it) shows Jean in her LEH uniform, possibly on her first day of school.  When Jean retired, she wrote a wonderful piece about her memories of her time at LEH during the war, which we will reproduce in the next edition of the Holles Connect magazine.