Edith (Edie) Brown 1916 - 2007
Edith or more locally known as Edie Brown was born in Felmersham in 1916, the third of four children of Anne and Charles Everest. Her brother Jack and sister Dorothy have both passed on and her youngest sister Gladys (known as Gill) Burr, although unwell, still lives in the village. She was christened in St Mary’s Church, Felmersham where she also married “her beloved Alf” in 1942. She met Alf at W H Allen in Bedford where she had been sent to do factory work during World War II. He was a young Widower, left with a baby boy after his first wife had died as a consequence of childbirth. After marrying Alf, she became mother to his son Ted and two years later their daughter Lesley was born. Edie encouraged the children to be creative, to enjoy and respect nature and passed on her love of books, and to Lesley, she also passed on a passion for fabric and needlework which Lesley still does as her main hobby. Lesley particularly recalls how after the war they kept ducks and chickens but Edie got so fond of them that she was not able to kill and eat them.
One thing Edie was unable to pass on to Ted and Lesley was her musical skill. Edie had never had a lesson in her life but had a natural ear and considerable talent and she could sit down and play all the songs of the thirties and forties. Alf died in 1962 aged 51 which left her as a widow for 45 years, she also lost her son Ted in 2002. Edie was Aunt to Shirley, the daughter of her elder sister Dorothy who died nearly 40 years ago. She was a proud Gran to Adrian, Michael, Andrew and Sharon and most recently had become Great Granny to Kieran, Jodie, Bethany and Lauren. The funeral service and committal were held at St Mary's Church on Thursday 10 May followed by a private cremation. She was 90 years old.

Mary Ditmas (neè Mary Glenn) 1912 - 2007
	Mary was born on 3rd January 1912 in West Byfleet in Surrey the only child of George and Wizzie Glenn. Mary spent most of her school life as a boarder at Wycombe Abbey School where she excelled in tennis and lacrosse and played for Surrey in both those sports. She continued to play tennis for most of her active life and her vicious underarm topspin serve was a hallmark of her game. After leaving Wycombe Abbey, Mary spent her year at finishing school in Paris and in the period leading up to the war, travelled extensively with her parents and friends. Mary’s mother, Wizzie, came from Yorkshire where they used to holiday when she was young; and during one of those holidays Mary met Noel Shaw, who had been at Bedford School, and who used to stay there with friends and a romance commenced. However, Noel joined the Gurkhas in the early 1930’s and at that time young Indian Army Officers could not get married until they were 30 and during that time the war intervened and they were not married until 11th November 1944 when Noel returned briefly from the Chindit Campaigns in Burma. At the outbreak of war Mary became a Lieutenant in the ATS and during that time her friends included Jocelyn Nash (nee Allen) from Turvey and Aileen Wells from Felmersham who she was able to meet up with again when Mary and Noel settled in Felmersham in 1962.
As soon as the war finished, Mary joined Noel in India where Mark was born, followed by Malaya and then Hong Kong and then back to the UK for 2 years when Lance and Glenn were born. Noel was then posted as Military Attaché to Baghdad before taking up his final posting as Commandant of the Brigade of Gurkhas in Sungei Patani in North Malaya. On retiring from the Army Noel became involved in the City of London and was then appointed Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor of London before incurring a cerebral haemorrhage in 1968. During all these postings, Mary was always actively involved carrying out the social duties and activities required by her husband’s positions as well as being a kind and loving Mother and always ensuring that she put other people’s interest first. An excellent cook, she loved entertaining although attending church on Sunday mornings tended to mean that the parsnips were normally burnt! During her life, Mary always supervised the buying and equipping of all the houses in which they lived and made them vibrant and social places. On leaving the Army, Mary’s good eye for property always put the family in good stead. Their first home together was the Old Rectory here in Felmersham where in typical fashion, Mary joined in local activities and was a founding member of the local Three in One Club. Mary married again in 1981, in Felmersham Church, Col. Basil Ditmas whom she had met when he was visiting cousins in the North Bedfordshire area and they had a very happy five years together until Basil died in 1986. All in all, Mary had a very long and interesting life and was in places at historical times. Mark Shaw The funeral service was held at St Mary's Church, Felmersham on 18 September 2007 followed by interment.

David James Rhodes MB, FRCP.  1939 - 2007
David was born in Croxley Green, Hertfordshire and after his schooling he became an apprentice in the printing industry. During his apprenticeship he developed an interest in cars and bought his first car, an Austin Seven with two seater bodywork and a very dramatic MG style, with which he entered local rallies.

David also discovered rugby football and played for West Herts RFC, being rewarded in his first season with the prize for the most improved player. This was a passion which lasted throughout his life - he arranged a stay of one of his recent chemo treatments so that he could better enjoy the World Cup Final - and for a period Chairman of Milton Keynes RFC.

When David literally “felt the call to medicine” he had to break his apprenticeship. He also had to gain the necessary qualifications for entry to medical school, and it is a mark of his determination that, in a single year, he gained five O Levels and two A Levels at the local Further Education College and thus was able to go up to Guy's Hospital.

During David's time as a student, he served three months in the Yemen as a Red Cross worker during their particularly vicious and bloody civil war. His work involved, amongst other duties, carrying out surgery on battlefield casualties and taking cover in caves when the Ilyushin bombers carried out a raid; it was a formative and enlightening experience. It took a lot of courage to volunteer for such service.

It was a very happy day when he and Jane married at All Saints, Croxley Green. David was by now doing a house job at Hither Green and after this they moved to Aylesbury where David worked for a while at the Tindal Hospital. It was while they were there that Anna was born.

After Tindal, David became a GP, joining a practice at Woburn Sands where James and Katie were born. During his time in Woburn Sands, he was talked into sharing a vintage sports racing special, and he enjoyed three successful seasons with this car. His motor racing career involved several vehicles. He acquired a Morgan Plus Eight. He developed this car over several successful seasons before parting with it. His last high performance car was a Porsche 9 11.

When David, Jane and family moved to Felmersham in 1978, it would be no exaggeration to say that his compassion and care had won the hearts of all the patients at Woburn Sands; it was clear, when he left to work at Harrold Surgery, they did not want him to go.

David spent 15 years as a Harold GP and many local people have good cause to be grateful for his expert and, on many occasions, life saving diagnosis. He was a kind, considerate and knowledgeable physician who always had time for his patients.

Meanwhile his family was growing up and he was proud and delighted that Anna should go to Guy's and follow in his footsteps. He funded James' karting and when he went on to bigger things David sponsored him as much as he could. Katie went to the Royal Holloway to learn Italian, again to his huge delight. He was a devoted father.

David had wide ranging interests. He was an expert fisherman and loved music and good food. He was very interested in history and had been engaged in writing a novel about the First World War for some time. He not only enjoyed good wine, but he also knew why it was good.

In his student days he wrote a paper about DNA when the term was still barely known, and when qualified he researched and wrote on several other medical topics. He contributed several humorous pieces to one of his car club's magazines. He was a gifted artist, but although several paintings exist he never seemed to have the time to pursue this skill. He loved good furniture and objects. He was justifiably proud of the pond yacht he rescued from an antique shop in Penzance and refitted.

David had a great interest in cardiology, among other things, and established a health screening clinic in his home in October '88. This gradually became a successful project and he looked after employees of many local, prominent businesses, but also people from much further a field. He had people from France and America who came to see him regularly! The clinic was eventually moved to BMI Manor Hospital at Biddenham, where, sadly, he was only able to work for six weeks before he was taken ill.

David Rhodes was a man of intelligence, determination, courage, generosity, hospitality and above all he had great humour. He faced his illness with his characteristically good humour, he will be sorely missed.   Written from the funeral address by Humphrey Collis.