Jean
was born in Stafford in 1941, where her dad, Ben Fletcher had been sent to work
for English Electric as part of the war effort. Jean’s mum, Ivy, and older
brother and sister, Howard and Beryl, had joined Ben just in time for Jean’s
birth. As the war came to an end in 1945, the family moved back to Preston and
to a house in Brook Street. By that time, Jean was ready to go to school and so
she was enrolled at St Cuthbert’s School, later transferring to the Fulwood and
Cadley School, where she got a scholarship to Balshaw’s Grammar School in
Leyland. Jean wasn’t the most academic of pupils, but at Balshaw’s her
needlework skills developed and those skills and attention to detail remained
part of her life.
Meanwhile, the family were heavily involved in the life of
Moor Park Methodist Church, which provided many of their social activities. Jean
joined the choir as a teenager and sang duets with her sister Beryl. Having been
a Brownie in the church pack, Jean became an assistant Brownie leader and
eventually Brown Owl. In 1955 the family moved to a house in Beacon Grove and a
couple of years later Jean left school and went to work for the Milk Marketing
Board. From there she secured a job with English Electric as a tracer, which
made good use of her eye for detail.
The staff from English Electric shared a canteen with
those from the British Aerospace works across the road and in June 1966 Jean’s
eyes caught sight of Peter Reid, a British Aerospace draughtsman. They soon hit
it off and were married at Moor Park Methodist Church in September 1967, with a
guard of honour provided by the Brownies and Guides. They set up home in Shire
Bank Crescent, where Colette was born and then shortly after moving to Sharoe
Green Lane in 1975 Helen was born. Jean had given up work when Colette was born,
but she developed a routine with plenty of activities for the children and lots
of walking as she’d didn’t drive. Saturdays always involved shopping and a visit
to Central Methodist Church for coffee and summer holidays were usually at
Butlins. Jean was later to become a coffee shop volunteer and the Saturday
morning visits continued with Colette until relatively recently. In 1984 when
the Moor Park Church closed Jean and the girls transferred to Fulwood and Jean
took on the Brownies at the URC.
Sadly, Peter’s health was not robust and he had two spells
in Whittingham Hospital, which was not easy for the family, but Jean was a very
practical person and was able to run the house as well as care for Peter. As the
girls got older Jean enrolled at Preston College, where she undertook a variety
of courses. She became a lunch-time supervisor at the Harris School, helping the
children with various activities, including passing on some of her computer
skills. It was a shock when Peter died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2000, but
with the support of family and friends Jean found the strength to carry on.
Beryl’s husband had died seven year before and as Peter had never liked going on
holiday, Jean and Beryl went away together to various parts of the country and
then abroad to Austria and Switzerland. Jean also took part in the Fulwood
exchange with Recklinghausen.
When Jean gave up leading the Brownies she became a leader
with the Beaver Scouts and also a valuable member of the Junior Youth Club team,
Escape, where she undertook craft activities with the children. Jean also used
her skills to make hundreds of greetings cards, which were sold at Fulwood and
at Central. It’s a mark of the affection in which Jean was held that with
appropriate support she was able to carry on with these activities until almost
the end of 2014, even though she’d been diagnosed with dementia. Although she
had many friends Jean was quite a private person, but she was proud to be a
grandma and would talk about her grandchildren to almost anyone who would listen
and show off their photos.
Sadly, Jean’s illness progressed quite rapidly and in
September 2015 she moved into Dovedale Court and then later to Sherwood Court
for more specialist care. Thankfully, she seems to have been comfortable and
reasonably content in both homes, but in many ways her death came as a release
from her struggles. It was hard for Jean’s family to watch the effects of her
illness and so her funeral on