Irene Frances Wilkins

Irene was born in Sussex though she hated to admit it, always maintaining she was a Yorkshire woman
through and through.

With the separation of her parents she was brought up predominantly in Wentworth, near Rotherham by
her beloved grandparents Charles and Eleanor Smith.

Unfortunately after the death of her grandfather and with her grandmother's age she was, as she
said, 'farmed out' to various relatives and fundementally after that had a very sad and
physically painful childhood.

Moving to London she opted for what she saw as the safest bet - marriage. Alas this marriage was a
disaster as she found she was the victim of spousal abuse and left her first husband after only a
short period.... she was particularly hurt when he killed her kitten and then turned on her.

Irene was not one to shy away from the world and joined FANY. Whilst official records do not show,
what photographic and oral records do, Irene worked as a cipher clerk in Whitehall, having been
blessed by her father's knowledge and passing on of fluent German.

In 1945 she was posted to Berlin and met Reg, the one true love of her life and they lived in happy
domestic bliss after their demob until she passed in 2000 by which time they had been married 52
years.

A woman of high intelligence she was a devoted mother and grandmother. A woman who never raised her
voice to anyone, always a shoulder to cry on particularly for her only grandson in times of trouble
she would never turn her back on adversity always facing it head on as a challenge to overcome, all
challenges she did of course overcome apart from the last one......

A lady of spirit, dignity and pride............ one who stands alone in the hearts of her family, a
devoted wife, kind and gentle mother, grandmother and great grandmother who would now be so proud of
all her great grandchildren