Page 48 - QARANC Vol 17 No 1 2019

46 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Mrs Mary Elena Gardner (nee Lowney)
Mary Gardner was born in 1920 in Cluin, Castletownbere in Eire. At school she was in a class of less than a dozen pupils and always wanted to be a teacher. However, in 1938 her aunt, who was a sister at the Italian Hospital in London, offered her a position as a trainee nurse. On completion of her SRN training, she worked at the Brompton Hospital and the Connaught Hospital, throughout the Blitz, until the end of January 1944.
Later she volunteered for QAIMNS(R), and following training, she was posted overseas. She served in West Africa, nursing the West African Forces returning from Burma. Later she served in a number of military hospitals, becoming an assistant matron and attaining the rank of Captain.
Prior to being sent overseas, at Cefn Coed Hospital,
Swansea, she met and nursed Bob, a young Sergeant with the Royal Scots Fusiliers, who had been wounded in Normandy. On demobilisation in 1948, they were married in London, and then set up home in Liverpool.
Mary worked as a district nurse, and Bob in Liverpool Fire Brigade. They had three children, followed by seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Mary was always extremely proud of her service in QAIMNS(R) and of her war service medals. She was a truly wonderful lady, greatly missed by her husband of over 69 years, her children, grandchildren and great grandchild.
She passed away peacefully in Wirral after a short illness.
Robert S Gardner, Son
Irene Caroline Gomersal (neé Joyce)
22 May 1920 – 21 October 2018
Irene was born in Cumbria, the second daughter of the local headmaster, whose job then took the family to Yorkshire. Success in her School Certificate at Skipton Girls’ High led to a move from the small village of Gargrave on the edge of the Dales to the City of London and Barts, where she began her nurse training in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war.
Much of the hospital was relocated out of the City to Hill End (near St Albans) in anticipation of the capital becoming an enemy target. During the Dunkirk evacuation, Hill End was a receiving post for the returning troops and Irene spoke of being on night duty and hearing the frequent rumblings of the trains pulling into the hospital’s own station; the smell of salt water and blood was all prevailing.
After qualifying in 1942 she joined the QAIMNS(R) and initial army training in Oxford led to a posting to India and later Burma. Travelling to the Far East in convoy from Glasgow, their ship narrowly escaped being torpedoed in the Atlantic.
She joined the newly formed and ground-breaking Number 3 Mobile Neurosurgical Unit, first in Secunderabad and later at Imphal where fighting was intense. She recalled operations in the rudimentary theatres having to be done during the night or early morning, due to the inability of anaesthetised patients to control their body temperature in the extreme heat and humidity. The unit then relocated to Comilla, its operating theatres becoming affectionately
Irene at Comilla (with No. 3 Mobile Neurosurgical Unit) in the Far East during WW2
known by the staff as ‘The Nutcracker Suite’, and when the wind-up gramophone obliged, operations were accompanied by the relevant music from Tchaikovsky.
On her rounds as the night superintendent of this 2000 bed hospital, she met Clifford, a medical patient who coincidentally came from a small Yorkshire village near Gargrave. The rest as they say is history, including the arrival of three children who eventually followed their mother into the nursing profession.
After her marriage, Irene worked for a time as a district nurse in the East End of London and then the family moved back to Yorkshire. Part time nursing in a variety of roles to fit round family life was followed eventually by her final post, Anaesthetic and Recovery Sister in the ENT and Eye Unit at Bradford
Irene at Oxford in her QAIMNS(R) uniform in 1945
Royal Infirmary, retiring in 1981.
In her retirement, enjoyment of her five grandchildren was combined with time to indulge her love of literature, history and music. She was an active member of the Burma Star Association and the Mother’s Union at her local
parish church.
Despite physical frailty in her latter
years, her mind was as active as ever, often recollecting her life at Barts and in Burma to her family, especially the younger generation.
She died at the age of 98, following a short illness, well cared for by the staff at Grange Court, which had been her home for four years. Her wish to remain there, despite an eventual shortfall in her funds, was made possible by financial help from, amongst others, the QARANC Association.
Sue Robinson – daughter