JOAN MARGARET KNIPE née Took 2 August 1921 - 12 September 2001

Address by her son Colin Knipe at her funeral service, St Cuthbert’s Church, Kirkby Ireleth , Cumbria on Saturday 22 September 2001.  (She died on the day following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, New York, which caused such colossal loss of life.)

“In a shocking few days when so many have died in tragic circumstances, we sometimes forget that every one was an individual, a unique life and personality, each with a family and friends who loved them and miss them dearly.

Today, in our own small way, we come together to celebrate the life of someone very dear to us. You may have known her as Joan, or perhaps just Mrs Knipe, but to David, Garry and myself and to our closest, she was Mum,
.. to Carol and Stephen, Lola, Gavin, Simon & Ben she was a devoted Gran,
.. to James and little William a doting Great Grandma,
.. and to John and sisters she was Auntie,
and she was dear to our wider family.

Mum was born just 80 years ago at Sydenham, South London, as Joan Margaret Took, daughter of Frank Roland Took a mechanical engineer from the Old Kent Road and Ethel Mary Barter, from Clerkenwell.  She was a Londoner, with a Cockney as a father!

Mum was not quite an only child, because she had a younger brother, John, but sadly John died at the age of 6, when Mum was just 9.

She was educated at Beckenham Girls Grammar School and was evidently very bright because she won a number of school prizes.

Mum was only 18 when the War broke out.  She joined the clerical and administrative branch of the Air Ministry in Whitehall, which must have been interesting and valuable work close to the heart of the war effort.

Quite soon after, on a walking holiday with the Holiday Fellowship in Devon - I think in Lynmouth - she met young Walter Dixon Knipe, a bright engineering designer a few years her senior, and they were immediately attracted.  Young Dixon had started as a marine engineering designer with Vickers Armstrong in Barrow but because he knew all about propellers and engines he had been recruited by Frank Whittle in January 1940 as part of the Power Jets team building the very first jet engines at Lutterworth in the East Midlands.

Grandpa Knipe [Ernest Alfred Knipe, who died at Kirkby aged 104] writes in his diary of August 1940: “Last week we had Dixon at home for the week.  He brought with him Joan Took of Sydenham London to whom he is now engaged.  Quite a nice girl.  Evidently they are much in love with each other.  I trust they may be happy”.  .... Yes, indeed they were!!

Mum and Dad were married at Beckenham, Kent, in November 1940 and set up home in Lutterworth, living on Dad’s princely £5.10s.0d per week.

May 1941 saw the first successful flight of a jet plane and soon the designs had been so improved that engines could be produced in large numbers.  Members of the design team could therefore be released to go back to other useful war work.

Mum & Dad therefore moved to Barrow in October 1941 where Dad returned to designing submarines and warships with Vickers and Mum took up the duties of a housewife, as was expected in those days.  They lived first at Stafford Street, then in a rented house in Hibbert Road by the railway station, then in their first proper house, in Minster Lane near Roose.

I arrived in 1943, David the following year, and Garry in 1946.  We all looked alike: blond, short and stocky - we must have got that from Dad - but bright and good looking - we must have inherited that from Mum!!  In 1947 we moved to 5 Highlands Avenue, Beacon Hill in Barrow, which is where we Knipe boys spent all our formative years.  For us it was a happy childhood, but three boisterous, constantly squabbling lads must have driven Mum to distraction.  Indeed it was sometimes worse, when we were joined by our cousin John.  Then she had four of us to cope with!

I mention John because he has been especially kind and supportive to Mum over all the years.  Thank you John.

We were brought up well.  We could not have wanted for better parents - they taught us by example, to know right from wrong, good from bad, good manners and good humour, patience and persistence, and to speak well.  They were interested in nature and the world about us, in art and craft, in the history, tradition and dialect of Furness and the Lake District, in family history, indeed in so many things that have rubbed off on us their boys, and now our own families.

We are what Mum and Dad made us, and we are very grateful and very proud of that.  We hope we haven’t let them down.

In 1966, soon after we the three brothers had all left home for university, Mum and Dad sold their small 3 bedroom semi- in Barrow and moved to the much larger house at Bailiff Ground here in Kirkby, with its glorious views over the Duddon Estuary, Black Coombe and the Dunnerdale Fells.

They could not have wished for better neighbours at Bailiff Ground and at Lane Head.  In particular to the Turnoughs - Heather and David - and the Barkers - Sheila and Arthur - we give our special thanks for all you did for Mum.

Dad - Mum’s devoted companion for 49 years - died unexpectedly in October 1989 following a relatively minor operation.  Mum felt the loss of Dad greatly, and I think she lost some of her sparkle and drive from that time.  It was obviously more lonely and more difficult for her to cope in such a large house out of the village, and as the years went by she slowed down with the aches and pains that creep on with old age, but she remained bright and lucid, cheerful, thoughtful, aware and patient to the end.

During her last years at Bailiff Ground Mum had the help of local carers, and meals-on-wheels, and the doctors and nurses at Kirkby Surgery, all of whom were so kind and helpful.  But I am especially grateful to my brother Garry and to Diane for having visited so constantly, for being so supportive and for helping keep Mum going.

However eventually it became obvious to Mum that she could no longer cope on her own at Kirkby, so it was with mixed feelings that she moved at Christmas 1999 to Hove in Sussex to live with my brother David and Marian.

She could not have been better looked after during her last 21 months.  Of course she had the help of kind carers who visited each day, but I must give my heartfelt thanks to David and Marian who made Mum’s last few months so comfortable and loving.

Throughout her life Mum was strengthened by her Christian faith and her interest in helping others and being involved:

When she first moved to Barrow she was active in St Luke’s Church, Roose, then St Aidan’s at Newbarns.  At St Aidan’s she was a Sunday School teacher, and leading light in the Mothers Union, and for many years she led the Cub pack.  She was A-kela.  Then when she and Dad moved to Kirkby she loved coming here to St Cuthbert’s.

Although born a ‘townie’, Mum loved the traditional rural life of the district and shared with Dad a keen sense of its history and culture.  She was, with Dad, an active member of the Lakeland Dialect Society, the Cumbria Family History Society, the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, and the Friends of Cumbria Archives.  She valued the many friendships she made through those splendid societies.

Mum was especially proud to be a member of the Kirkby Womens Institute and the local W I Markets organisation, and would be pleased to see so many of you here today.  The W I was perfect for Mum because she was so versatile and handy - she loved needlework, lace making, embroidery, making clothes and dolls - usually at the expense of more boring housework!  She pressed flowers, made pottery and decorated plates, and even made some pieces of furniture.   And of course, being a member of the W I, she made cakes and jam!

It is just as well she was good on the jam-making front, because there was the famous Christmas Eve when I was perhaps 6 and my brothers were even smaller - I was the only one who could write - when I put a note out for Santa Claus after we had gone to bed.  At about midnight Mum spotted the note, which read “Dear Santa - please can me and my brothers have some lemon curd”.  Well by then Santa was disappearing over the horizon, but by good fortune Mum had all the ingredients, so in the early hours of Christmas Day she set about making 3 jars of lemon curd.  It must have been still warm when we woke up, but three little boys were very happy!

Finally I mention the Furness Beekeepers Association.  Mum and Dad kept bees for many years and there were few greater treats than enjoying their home-produced honey.  It was touching that when Dad died, Mum went down to the hives in the orchard to tell the bees that he had passed away.  We don’t have the hives any more, so when each of you next see the bees, please tell them the news of Mum’s passing.

Well, that is our Mum .. Granny .. Great Grandma.  On behalf of her immediate family I thank all Mum’s friends who have come along today to pay their respects.  As you can tell, Mum led a full and fruitful life, and we can rejoice in that.  Soon she will be reunited with Dad in body and spirit.  Please remember her with affection.
... We will.”

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