Felixstowe History Past and Present

Tribute to Gwen Howell  written by Doreen Rayner

Gwen (Howell) died at the Bartlet Hospital, Felixstowe on April 28, 2005.

Out of sight but not out of mind

Other than those few final  weeks  spent in hospital Gwen an only child  lived at Manor Terrace for her entire life. The Howells lived in one of the houses in Landguard Road (West End  View), her Father joining the Royal Navy during the 1939-45 war. Her parents married in about 1945.

Gwen, born in 1947, attended first  Langer Primary School and then

St Peter's School  on the corner of Stanley Road . St. Peter's has since been demolished. The deaths of her grandfather and several school friends on the night of the 1953, floods Left members of the Howell family devastated

Hence her interest in plans to construct a flood memorial.

For many years Gwen worked at P & O offices, Felixstowe Dock, and in the 1970's  she became a member  of he Royal Navy Auxiliary  Service, then based In the Martello  "P" on Wireless Green.

Following the death of her  mother, whom she  nursed at home with the

help of a team of community carers, Gwen made up her mind to become

A carer/health assistant. It was her way of giving something back

The scars left by the deaths of her parents had barely faded when it was found she had developed breast cancer. She was determined to follow the instructions of her Felixstowe based GP and her Oncologist at Ipswich Hospital, and it seemed after five years of annual checks, that she was indeed "out of the woods."

Sadly, this was not to be and she died two weeks after entering the Bartlet.

Gwen. Who never married, loved the sea, the great outdoors, wildlife, and her rabbits and tortoises. She was referred to as "a character"  

- a positive thinker, and will be sorely missed.

Click here to read Gwen's experience of the 1953 floods