Jack & Mary Adams

click Families for other local families

click Adams for others in this family

click 1955 Mrs Able (Mary Adams) by Rumer Godden for a description of Mary and her work as a chimney sweep and layer-out.

click 1978 Mary Adams famous chimney sweep for further description of her work. This article is listed in Social Snapshots 1969-2000 inc

Arthur J 'Jack' Adams born 1899 was the son of Arthur & Bessie Adams

Mary Parker was born in 1909

Jack and Mary married in 1930

Jack and Mary had 2 children as follows :-

Margaret 'June' Adams born 1931 married Rees Weale in 1953. click Rees & June Wheale for their life story

Michael 'Monty' Adams born

Hallmark December 1980. Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Jack Adams on their Golden Wedding on December 6th.

Jack Adams born 1899, died 1983

October 1983 Tribute in Hallmark for Jack Adams by Ted Janes :-

Jack Adams died after a long illness, he never enjoyed the best of health throughout his retirement. He was a local man, and when he left school he started work as a ploughboy at Stocken Farm, graduating to other farms in the arear, and building, before becoming a railwayman.

During his life he lived both in Lacey Green and Loosley Row. always interested in village affairs, in fact I would say he was a true-salt-of-the-earth countryman. Our sympathy goes to wife Mary and children June and Monty.

May 1999 Tribute in Hallmark for Mary Adams by Jean Gabbitas.

The past few editions of Hallmark have noted the recent passing of several Village stalwarts, but we are sure that we all caught our breath for a second or two on hearing of Mary’s death on the 27th February at the fine old age of 94. Hearing of the manner of her passing however, we are sure brought a smile to our faces, just as she did to everyone during her amazing life. Norman Tyler wrote and delivered the eulogy at her funeral on March 10th at St. John’s Lacey Green. To a “Full house”, this is how it went;

“When I was first asked if I would give this address, I hesitated. I thought - and I still think - I couldn’t do full justice to Mary, who meant so much to so many people. When we think of Mary, we can’t help smiling inwardly, if not outwardly. She wouldn’t want us to be miserable at her funeral. When anyone asked her how she was, she’d say “Oh, I’m fine darlin’, even though she couldn’t possibly always have been fine.

It’s comforting for us to know that on the day she died, Mary was feeling particularly well and had just been enjoying a sherry. She dozed off and died in her sleep. The only way I'll be able to think of our Village without being able to see Mary will be for me to remember the reasons for thinking of her with a smile. We all have our memories of her making us laugh or smile. Her daughter June remembers with a smile the time June, aged about 8 or 9, had collected a few eggs from the family henhouse. One hen was broody, and a fearsome threatening cockerel wouldn’t let her out of the henhouse with the eggs. “The next-door neighbour found Mary and told her she’s need to go and rescue her daughter. Next thing she knew, Mary was wielding a thick stemmed Brussels sprout plant with a sizeable head at the cockerel, chasing him around - quite a funny scene for June to remember. “You'll go in the pot next week”, Mary threatened while rescuing June and the eggs.

Vivienne remembers with a smile her first meeting Mary in her kitchen in the ‘60’s, before she married Monty. Mary used to hatch out chicks and ducklings in her Rayburn cooker. After hatching out, the babies would follow Mary round the kitchen where they lived, hand fed by Mary. “Mind the babies, mind the babies”, Mary would repeat. “What sort of a family am I coming to?” Vivienne asked herself, but says she loved it.

Mary’s grandaughter Janinne, remembers one weekend in particular with a smile. She and her brother Jeremy were staying the weekend with Nan and, for a treat, had ice lollies for breakfast, sitting on the coal bunker at 7.30 in the morning. It’s the sort of thing you could only get away with at Nanny’s, Janinne says. Jeremy says of his Nan “If one life can be measured by one flower, then Nan’s would have been a river of bluebells”. Mary loved to be taken to see the bluebell woods at Springtime to admire the carpets of blue stretching out as far as you can see.

Mary said her nickname was “Midget” because of her body size - but she certainly wasn’t small in any other sense. She was a strong down-to-earth character with a loveable personality and seemingly unlimited enterprise. She was invited by all sorts of organisations such as WI, Red Cross, the Evergreens and Rotary to give her humorous engaging talks about her unusual and interesting life. She was a natural entertainer. I videoed one of her talks to the WI and in it she said she lost her mother when she was very young, still a baby in fact, then she lost her father when she was 11 or 12, so her sister had to bring her up. She had to earn her living, so had to get up at 5 to deliver newspapers before school.

When a listener to the original version of BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme complained to Jack de Manio, the sole presenter of the programme at that time, that he only seemed to interview radio stars, well known personages, moneyed folk, never unusual interesting people or those who had odd jobs, who did the BBC choose to put matters right? Our Mary! Jack de Manio’s interview lasted 7.3/4 minutes - MUCH longer than the Today programme allows for most politicians, and deservedly so! She told him she believed she was Britain’s only lady chimney sweep, and that when she started sweeping chimneys she charged half a crown, but it had gone up to 10 shillings by the time she was being interviewed. She mentioned Lacey Green several times on the BBC.

Readers Digest published an article on Mary by the local author Rumer Godden entitled “The most unforgettable character I’ve met”. Mary was considered by far the cleanest chimney sweep in those days. She became a sweep when working as a kitchen maid in a large local manor, when the sitting room filled with smoke.

Mary’s daughter June, on behalf of the whole family, has asked Hallmark to convey their thanks to all the many villagers who have done so much to help Mary in various ways, and who have given her so much happiness over the years. They would also like to thank all those who kindly gave to the fund for the Cross Keys surgery - the total amounted collected came to £447.35.

As glasses were lifted at lunchtime on 10th March in the Black Horse, to toast the 75^th birthday of Loosley Row and Lacey Green WI Kathleen our Chairman asked that we also remember Mary. And so it was at that moment that I heard of the death of dear Mary Adams. (I’d been attending a Spring Conference the previous week-end), and so not heard the notices in church.

Like several of the older WI members Mary had contributed a great deal to Village life, especially during the war years. She had a special after dinner talk which would reduce the audience to tears of laughter, and I hope one of her friends will give you the high-lights. I have a vivid memory of dancing a reel with her at a WI Bam Dance in the Rest Home for Horses - that was when she was only in her 80’s and still full of energy! She died peacefully in her 90’s and right to the end she never lost her sense of humour. What a lovely lady!

As we returned from the Black Horse we passed builders all working to modernise, repair or re-build homes of other dear old Villagers recently departed; Plum Cottage, home of Lily Adams, Margene home of Marie Ginger and Callow Rise home of Ruby Spencer (in hospital), and finally Leigh Cottage, home of Roger Benyon.

I have fond memories of all these Villagers, each so distinctive and all so kind and friendly - an example to us all.

Mary related “The two old people were being Kippered as they sat and no-one would do anything”, so she borrowed the equipment and swept the chimney! When folk saw the brush come out the chimney pot, they started asking her to do theirs.

But that wasn’t Mary’s only job, apart from being a mother; Mary also laid people out when they died. She related to the WI that one day she had to phone a local doctor to say she’d heard “Mr. so and so was very ill” - should she put on her dark clothes for the sweeping job she’d got that day, or did he think she should put on her white laying-out clothes? She had to tackle many jobs for the first time without having been trained for them. For example, one day the man of the house she worked for brought a live fish he’d just caught, into the kitchen. He put it in the sink and Mary, as the kitchen maid, didn’t know what to do with it, as she’d never handled a live fish before. When she picked it up, it kept slipping out of her hands on to the floor! She’d never killed a fish either. The only thing she could think to do was to leave it in the sink – “fish can’t live out of water can they?” she consoled herself.

Mary was not only an_ enterprising competent person, she had plenty of courage. At the age of 73, she had never flown, but she went on her first flight on her own to Perth in Australia to see her brother and sister she hadn’t seen for 50 years. As children, June and her younger brother Monty had a hard but very happy life, free to roam the area. Mary’s children and grandchildren will miss her greatly. When Bette phoned Mary at June’s 2 or 3 days before she died, Mary said she hoped we in the Village hadn’t forgotten her.

Well Mary, although a number of your close friends are away from home, several out of the country who couldn’t come, the Church is full of people who haven’t forgotten you, my darlin’!”

....A Footnote from Betty Tyler

How dear Mary would have loved her send-off! - The sun shone, the flag flew at half-mast and the Village streets for the first time for ages came alive. Friends streamed through the village to the church, which was packed with us all paying our last respects to a dear loving, and much loved lady. She will be sadly missed.