Jill – A life remembered Jill ( that’s with a J not a G- ‘I’m not a quarter of a pint’ and she would never forgive you if you called her Gillian) was born on the 26 April 1952 in Woking maternity ward, and was the only child of Fred and Marie Walker. She lived her early life at No. 5 Stanley Road, and yes that is the one Paul Weller sang about, as he lived opposite her parents house. She was not impressed however by his song as she said it bore no resemblance to the road itself. She was baptised at Chistchurch C of E Church Woking which was also where her parents had married in June 1946. She went to Maybury Primary and Goldsworth Secondary school leaving in 1967 to train as a window dresser. She also regularly attended pathfinder at Christchurch ( a bit like Sunday school ) where she first met David (or mustard as she used to call him). Although they both attended pathfinders they could often be found skiving off at the railway café to enjoy a cup of tea and toast and a chat on a Sunday morning. From her early days as a window dresser Jill went on to do a number of jobs including accounts clerk, receptionist, shop assistant and even a stint as a disco dancer which explains her passion for dancing. If you ever went to Pantiles in Bagshot you may have seen her dancing on the podium. Also some of you may have bought one of those little glass ornaments filled with different coloured sand from her when she worked at the souvenir shop in Alum Bay. You may even have hired a TV from her when she worked at Radio Rentals. She even had her 5 minutes of TV fame working the score board at televised county cricket matches. A large part of her life was taken up with being a housewife and bringing up her two daughters Deb & Sam by her second husband Jeff whom she had married in 1977, and running a family home which included Jill’s mum, Jeff’s mum and dad and his grandmother. The family, had moved to the Isle of Wight (or widget as Jill used to call it) in 1983 where her second daughter Sam was born in 1984 making Sam the only ‘caulkhead’ in the family at the time, the rest of the family being known as overners. Holiday makers to the Isle of Wight by the way are referred to as ‘grockles’. Despite what must have been a busy and hectic life Jill still managed to involve herself in many hobbies. She loved cooking, sewing, knitting, gardening, decorating, dancing and modern music. Her lifelong hobby however was her family tree. She had researched some 1600 ancestors and had gone back as far as 1716 when George I was on the throne and the Spanish war of Succession had not long ended. Most of this done without the aid of the Ancestry.com or other such internet web sites. She has amassed thousands of printed and hand written notes together with hundreds of birth, death and marriage certificates on all her ancestors. Hopefully Deb will take this over now and continue to research the family history. The other major passion in Jill’s life was her love of nature, in particular all things dog or horse related. She was never happier than when around them. Shadow, a rescue greyhound from Ireland brought to Spain, was soon joined by 2 other rescue dogs, Emily and Honey, and if she had had her way many more would have found a home at Los Llanos. She could not pass a dog by without stopping to say hello, and as far as horses are concerned, on moving to Spain she could not believe her luck that there were so many horse related events where she could go and stroke, talk to and even ride so many different breeds of horse, pony, donkey or mule. Her passion did not stop at the living animal. She could not go on holiday without buying at least one horse ornament and when she found ebay she was in heaven, horse ornaments by the hundreds. It got to the stage where David had to ban her from buying any more as the house was overrun with them. Jill got round this by buying zebra and giraffe ornaments instead!!! There is one other passion which we ought to mention. Shopping. She could shop for England, or is that Spain. Where it would take the average person 1 hour to go round a market Jill would spend that much time at just one stall, especially if it was clothes or jewellery. She may not have bought a single thing just the joy of looking at everything was enough for her. Jill’s relationship with David goes back to the early ‘pathfinder’ years when they were both about 12. They were just good friends in those days sharing a love of music, nature and of course toast with lashings of butter at the railway café. Although David always ‘fancied’ Jill she was 6 months older than him and in those days you didn’t date ‘older’ girls!! They remained good friends for a number of years but eventually went their own separate ways. It was only after Jill’s marriage to Jeff ended in 2001 that David got a message from Jill on the web site ‘friends reunited’ they then literally reunited. Jill eventually moved back to the mainland and they married in July 2003. They spent many happy years holidaying in the Caribbean, Turkey and Greece which was where David proposed to her. She did things she never dreamed of, jumped of a mountain (with parachute), white water rafting, paragliding, microlighting, swam with dolphins and even learnt to snorkle which she loved. The wedding in Leatherhead registry office was quite unique as they had not 2 but 4 witnesses to the marriage. Jills 2 girls Deb & Sam and Davids 2 Kirsty & Dawn. All 4 got on like a house on fire and ended up going out clubbing that night together. So Jill now had 4 daughters and in all 7 grandchildren- Ruth, Katie, Harry, Adam, Charlie, Jack and Jacob. Sadly due to her recent sudden illness she was not able to hold and cuddle the newest grandchild Jacob but thanks to the wonders of Skype was able to see and talk to him before she passed away. Thank you internet. Jill and David moved to Spain in 2010 having viewed some 32 houses in a week before deciding on San Isidro. Jill could not have been happier. She fell in love with the house at the first viewing and by the second viewing was already arranging the furniture. She made more friends, both English and Spanish, in the first 6 months living in Spain than in all her time in the UK. She loved the weather, the beaches, the scenery, the music, the food ( though not the salad – ‘I’m not a rabbit’) in fact everything about the country. She also loved the fact that complete strangers would say hello or ‘Hola’ and were prepared to pass the time of day with you. She truly considered Spain and especially San Isidro her home. Sadly what was supposed to be a long and happy retirement in Spain has been bought to a premature end. Though her time here in Spain was short it was full of joy. Jill we will miss you more than you know.