Ruth Staveley nee Beck was born on the 18th of April 1929, the daughter of Wilfred Beck (1894-1968) and Edith Beck nee Marshall (1890-1962). She was born at 95 Broadway East in Rotherham. Her parents had a daughter named Hazel Beck in 1922 but unfortunately she died as an infant. Ruth would be the only surviving child.

Due to her father’s career as a Commercial Traveller, selling furniture, the family moved around a lot. This made it very hard for Ruth to make friends at school and it must have been quite a disruption to keep having to move house to different areas of the country. The family remained in Rotherham until 1934 and then moved back to Sheffield. They spent some time in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham and also in Halifax before finally moving to Cheltenham around 1940 at the outbreak of World War II.

In 1954 she met Walter Staveley at a dance in the Town Hall in Cheltenham, and they were married in the Parish Church in 1957. Ruth and Walter were married for 48 years, and during that time they lived in Singapore and Hong Kong. They had four children, Andrew, Julie Anne, Catherine and Matthew. The family returned to the UK in 1969, settling in Bishops Cleeve. Ruth carried on her love of travel throughout her life, latterly enjoying world cruises.

The family enjoyed caravanning and boating together. Ruth’s children recall that these were happy, memorable family holidays and weekends. Ruth and Walter’s family grew to include grandsons Erol, Cem ( Jem ) & Lewis. In later years Ruth had another addition to  the family in the form of her faithful four legged friend, Bonnie.

Ruth was always kind-hearted, courteous and diplomatic. She had great sense of humour with a mischievous streak. Ruth was described by her very good friend Eileen that she was a “Queen amongst ladies”. Ruth had a lifelong love of ballroom dancing, line dancing and particularly disco, (for which she won many medals and certificates).

Ruth worked at Dowty’s in Tewkesbury and for the Coal Board at Stoke Orchard. Ruth later became employed at the Civil Aviation Authority in Cheltenham for a number of years. She also had an interest in flying, having taken balloon rides and glider training at Staverton Airport near Gloucester.

Ruth was always smiling and looking at the bright side of life. She had an enquiring mind and had a great interest in learning new things. Ruth wrote poems and humorous ditties, enjoyed crosswords and had an extensive collection of ornamental frogs, as anyone visiting her home would know.

Although essentially a reserved person Ruth certainly had no problem in speaking her mind if pressed. In fact one of her biggest regrets was that she did not have enough confidence to be a professional public speaker. Her father was a good water colour artist and Ruth followed in his footsteps taking up watercolour and acrylic painting. Some of her best pieces were exhibited in Cheltenham Montpellier Gardens.

From silver surfer to pottery classes, garden centres to craft shows she had various interests and right up the last she had an active and agile mind that defied her years. Ruth had a great pride in her appearance always having immaculately manicured nails, and a neck scarf for all occasions.

Ruth moved from the family home at Delabere Road in Bishops Cleeve to a more convenient and self contained apartment at Oswald’s Village in Gloucester where she settled and made new friends in the last chapter of her long and eventful life.

In September 2014 without any warning Ruth had a severe stroke and was admitted to the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. Unfortunately she never recovered and passed away after two weeks on the 18th September aged 85. She is buried with Walter Staveley at the Bishops Cleeve Cemetery.

---