Gladys Perkins née Shakespeare (1907 - 2001)
November, 1908
My mother was the second child and second daughter of William George and Kate Shakespeare (née Spargo), born on 20th August 1907 at St Clements Road, Nechells, Birmingham. She was baptised at Rocky Lane United Methodist Church on 11th September 1907 by the Revd. A(lbert?) Tattersall. Before the next child, Lilian, was born in 1909 the family had moved to Sladefield Road, Washwood Heath, Birmingham where they remained until they were 'bombed out' during World War II.
Although her elder sister, Maud, had had to wait until the building was completed, my mother was able to attend Sladefield Road School as soon as she reached the age of five. The school was almost opposite their home, and mother remained there until leaving at the age of 14.
By an irony of fate her Headmistress in 1915 was a Miss J K Perkins.
July, 1919 (Mom is second from the right in the front row)
In common with many of her generation Mom left school without any formal qualifications and started work immediately. Her father got her a job at Fort Dunlop, Erdington in some sort of secretarial capacity.
At the age of 19 she was engaged to Jack Freeman, elder brother of Sydney. Shortly thereafter he emigrated to Australia, never to return!
Later she worked at George Heaven, and Constructors Ltd though when, in what order and for how long I do not know.
1927
In 1936, whilst at Constructors Ltd., she won their ladies' singles tennis competition and, despite our best efforts in later years to hide it, the trophy she received would appear on top of the television during Wimbledon fortnight! In her memory my brother still does this every year.
When she married my father in September, 1937 she stopped work, as was common for women in those far off days. She was never to work again. I, World War II, and my brother Tim came along (in that order), so Mom was kept fully occupied for several years.
Throughout the time my father had his own businesses (1937-41 and 1953-70), Mom acted as his secretary and did most of the paperwork which it entailed.
As we grew up Mom felt free to widen her horizons once more, and this she did in two ways. First she resumed active membership of Washwood Heath Methodist Church, to which she had first been taken as a seven year old by Walter Spargo. There she joined the choir. Though not the world's foremost singer she shared in the life of the church in a way that gave her - if not us! - great satisfaction until it closed in 1972. At that point she transferred her membership to Monk Road Methodist Church where she remained a less active member until her death.
In 1953 she had joined one of her neighbours in a sewing group at what was to become East Birmingham Hospital. One thing led to another and she became Secretary to the Friends of the hospital until 1970. In March of that year she had a heart attack and decided, very sensibly, to resign from a job which she had so much enjoyed and had tackled with characteristic energy. Fortunately she recovered and was able to take a less strenuous role in support of the Friends for very many years to come.
1968
In what was to become a feature of her later life she weathered the storm of my father's death in 1980 with great fortitude.
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| 1997 |
Her 80th and 90th birthdays were celebrated in a way that she had come to love: family parties. Her relatives and friends turned out in force, and from far and wide. She derived great enjoyment from these and lived on the memories for a long time after each event.
She was taken ill on Christmas Eve 1999 and a kindly, temporary, fog of dementia settled on her, so that she remembered nothing of the Millennium celebrations. She emerged from both to face a very different situation. It was clear to her, as to those around her, that she could no longer live alone as she had done for nearly 20 years since my father's death. Helped by a friend my brother found a residential care home for her and she - a lifelong Methodist - spent the last 11 months of her life at the Friendly Inn!!
And so she left her home of more than 58 years without a second look back. She described her new life as 'contented rather than happy', recognising that nothing can match living independently but acknowledging that she was no longer strong enough to do so. We were very impressed by her positive attitude towards her new situation.
On 21st January 2001, after a painful but mercifully brief illness, she died at East Birmingham Hospital where she had spent so many hours working voluntarily for others. It was snowing gently at the time - just as it had been more than 94 years earlier when her beloved husband was born.