Page 53 - QARANC Vol 15 No 1 2017

Maj Allison Johnson QARANC (V) 16 March 1947 – 20 December 2016
It is with great regret and sadness that the Millbank Branch announce the death of one of its most loyal and hardworking members. Allison sadly died of cancer in December at home with her husband Robert and her close family.
Allison was born into a large family of brothers and sisters in Scotland.
She left Scotland to
train as an SEN in the
QARANC from 1965-1969 in the rank of Private to Corporal.
Allison eventually completed her Nurse training as an SRN in a civilian hospital where she specialised in Operating Theatre skills.
She joined the Territorial Army in 1982 as a Captain and was appointed Major in 1989. She joined 308 Sponsored Unit and was put in charge of the Operating Theatres, which was an extension of her civilian role.
Her military career was interesting, to say the least. If Allison saw an opportunity to experience a new challenge or to learn a new skill she was on the job as quick as a flash and with Robert’s blessing. She witnessed many horrendous acts of war especially out in Bosnia. She was awarded the TD in 1994 and an award of the former Yugoslavia in 2002 and the Queens Jubilee Medal in 2002.
In 1991, she flew to the Falkland Islands and spent three weeks in the operating department. She experienced working in the Aldershot Hospitals on two occasions and participated in the Fairford Air show. Other trips saw her in Oman and Cyprus providing medical cover in Episkopi and the Cyprus Air show. In 2002 she spent 4 months on deployment in Bosnia.
With her civilian experience as a clinical teacher specialising in theatre and general surgery, she was well placed to set up
teaching programmes for new personnel including using pig’s trotters for teaching suturing! On top of all the aforementioned she managed to attend a variety of courses to keep herself clinically and militarily updated. She was an active member of the National Association of Theatre Nurses. She completed her civilian career at the Whittington Hospital, London.
Allison joined the Millbank Branch committee in 2003 and became the Branch secretary in 2006. From then on she saw it as a personnel challenge to ensure that the Millbank Standard was seen at every major function and event across the British Isles, and on many occasions AJ was the one to carry it. She took it as a great honour to represent the Branch and the Association.
She ensured that the elderly members were kept informed, visited, written to and generally cared for. She never forgot the Motto ‘Friendship’.
Her many army training trips taught her to be curious and ask questions of those around her and this was to stand us in good stead when she began producing the Millbank Newsletter, so full of background information of places we members were to visit, making them come ‘alive’ for us.
We have a lot to thank AJ for and she will never be forgotten for all her hard work for the Branch and the Association.
Our thoughts go out to Robert who we know will miss her greatly and we have lost a loyal servant to the Corps.
Lt Col Josephine Jones
THE GAZETTE QARANC 51
Susie Williamson-Lynam
Sadly Susie passed away in January 2016 after a short illness. She had been a member of the Association for many years, transferring to the Welsh Branch when she moved to Wales.
She was a happy, bright, cheerful person, described by her brother as a “Ray of Sunshine”. Susie loved the magic of life and was very much a family person, enjoying her time with her children, grandchildren and large extended family.
In December 1952 Susie went by ship with her family to live in West Africa, an excursion of a lifetime for a 4 year old little girl.
Susie eventually joined the Regular Army where she trained as a QARANC
Nurse. After leaving the Regular Army, Susie joined the Territorial Army and served for many years with the Ambulance Train Unit.
When she left the Army Susie moved to Wales to start a new chapter in her life. She soon settled into life in South Wales & became an active part of the community, joining the very friendly Baptist Church in Briton Ferry, where she made many friends. She even
learned a little of the Welsh language. At Susie’s funeral, members of the Welsh Branch joined with friends from both her Regular Army and Territorial
Army days to celebrate life.
Our heartfelt sympathy is with her
son and daughter and their families.
Obituary – Marie Madew PAGE (nee Robinson)
The Association apologises to the family of Marie Madew Page for misspelling her name in the previous Gazette.
Marie Page, known as Robin to her QA colleagues, was born on 14 April 14 1921 in Biddulph, Staffordshire and died in March 2016.