Daughter pays tribute to 'role model' mum after she passed away aged 107

“Mum was a very happy person, and I will always cherish the memory of the warm smile with which she always greeted me.”

These are the words of Sue Atkinson, the daughter of long-standing Maidenhead resident Mary Atkinson who passed away at home last month, just shy of her 108th birthday.

“She did live a full and good life,” Sue said.

“She was a wonderful role model in a way, in terms of making the best of life.

“One of the things she always maintained that kept her going was having a glass of red wine every day,” Sue said.

Mary was born during the First World War on January 23, 1917 in Crouch End to parents Elizabeth and Charles Boswell.

Her father was an architect, and her mother sang professionally at The West Cliff Theatre in Clacton.

Mary and her three sisters Hilda, Phyllis and Janet all grew up in a very musical household and could all sing and play the piano.

“They used to love dressing up and dancing and [having] lots of fun at home,” Sue said.

With family spread across different parts of the country, growing up Mary and her sisters would enjoy beach holidays with cousins in Wales and spend their summer holidays on farms.

“She loved her school,” Sue said.

“She used to go swimming a lot and they had, I think, the first open-air swimming pool very near her school.”

Mary did ‘very well at school’ and during her school career she was made both a prefect and head girl at the same time.

After leaving school, Mary worked for an aerial survey company where she interpreted aerial photographs.

But when the Second World War broke out in 1939, she had to give up her role because she required special contact lenses that were only sold in Germany.

In the early 1940s, Mary moved to Taplow and met her husband Paul Atkinson while working at Fairey
Aviation, where he was worked as a draughtsman.

The pair were married in 1943 when Mary was 26 and lived in a caravan in the garden of The Maypole pub in Taplow.

The pair later moved into a house in Burnham and their son Keith was born in the early 1950s.

After moving to Holyport, the couple’s daughter Sue was born in 1958.

The family moved to Maidenhead in 1972.

Mary and Paul shared an interest in operatics and Mary was a member of both the Maidenhead and Windsor and Eton operatic societies for many years.

She was very involved with The Grimm Players, who produced performances including Rumpelstiltskin and Snow White.

“One of her favourite parts was being the witch in Rumpelstiltskin,” Sue added.

Mary was also involved with the Gaslight Gaieties and enjoyed performing in productions such as Nobody Loves a Fairy When She’s Forty, and My Old Man.

Mary was also a former shorthand typist.

“When she retired, she decided that she wanted to do something a bit more interesting,” Sue explained.

“She answered an advert in the Maidenhead

Advertiser for a chaperone for a troop of dancing girls to go on cruises on the Canberra.”

Mary directed several plays for the Women’s Institute in Taplow.

She also volunteered for a Cancer Research shop in Maidenhead and was involved with the u3a for several years.

Sue recalls fond memories of travelling with her mum, with the pair driving around France together and visited lots of different countries.

“She loved it. She loved trying different food and drink and going to different places, meeting people.”

Mary’s funeral was held on Monday, February 17 at GreenAcres in Beaconsfield.

“It was lovely. It was a beautiful, sunny day and it was a celebration, rather than a sad occasion and there were lots of happy memories,” Sue said.