Page 50 - QARANC Vol 14 No 12 2016

48 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Major Anne Toy (Nee Dolphin) TD BSc (Hons) RGN RM ITEC Dip A&P 1951–2015
It is with much sadness that we announce the death of Anne Dolphin after a short battle with Pancreatic Cancer. Born in Newcastle she enlisted in QARANC on 6 November 1968 and having qualified as SRN went on to train as a Midwife and was Commissioned on 30 January
1973.
After leaving the service she continued her career in
Midwifery eventually returning to the North East and worked for many years at Hexham General Hospital during which time she joined 201 Field Hospital (Newcastle) where she served for several years attaining her Majority and Territorial Decoration and in retirement was an active supporter of the QARANC Association and served as Chair Person in 2014.
She continued her interest in music developed in various service Folk Clubs and became an accomplished Northumbrian Piper, singer and guitarist and in retirement developed a respected practice in Therapeutic Massage and particularly ‘No Hands’ technique.
She leaves a husband – Bill – whom she met through 201 Fld Hosp (doing casualty evacuation drills over water on a training weekend) a step daughter and son and 5 grandchildren plus hundreds of people whose lives she touched.
Maj (Retd) Bill Toy Husband
Michelle Kathryn Mercy Fisher (Nee Mendez) 1956-2015
Kathy was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya to a family with many connections to the British and Indian Armies. She went to a convent school in India with her sister before they both came to England to train as SRNs at Queen Elizabeth 2 Hospital in Welwyn Garden City. She qualified in 1977 and was commissioned into the QARANC in 1980, at the Royal Pavilion. She had a very caring nature which was ideally suited to her chosen profession.
She served at the Cambridge Military Hospital, DKMH Catterick, BMH Hong Kong and BMH Rinteln. She enjoyed all her time in the Army and made the most of the opportunities available. She trained as a Theatre Sister. Kathy loved travelling, she was fortunate enough to visit many countries and this continued after she joined the army as an officer in the Queen Alexander Royal Army Nursing Corps. She had a very competitive streak which enabled her to pursue different challenges, such as driving an army tank, doing a parachute jump, and climbing Mt. Kinabalu - the highest mountain peak in Malaysia. Kathy had a great sense of fun and adventure; she was very sociable and had a wide circle of friends. She certainly made the most of whatever life threw her way. And I am sure she would have relished the greater opportunities available to today’s QARANC.
Kathy also travelled extensively around Europe and South East Asia and Australia in her time with the QARANC. She was unable to transfer to the Regular list as she had contracted a lung disease due to her work, which became pulmonary fibrosis and was originally given a prognosis of 6 months. But she was never one to let a little thing like that get her down, or to believe in doctors’ infallibility, and continued to work at home and abroad, mainly as a theatre sister. She kept up
with the many friends she had made in training and as a QA and attended gatherings when she could and followed the Gazette. And she proudly kept all her QA memorabilia and medals on display.
She loved a wide range of music and also comedy shows. One of her favourite TV programmes was MASH. Kathy also took time to visit her extended families in Malaysia, Thailand, India, Canada, Europe and Australia.
There are many things for which she
will be remembered - her love of life, her
courage, and her determination to achieve all the things she wanted to do. She was kind, and always willing to go the extra mile for family and friends.
As air pollution was bad for her she tried to work in places less polluted such as Oman and the Gulf, where she met and later married her husband John. When she came back and settled in England it was in Gloucester and eventually in Suffolk. She worked there with a nursing agency and even when she had to carry oxygen in her car for her own personal emergency cover, she still gave the same care and love she always gave to her patients and her friends and family. Nearly thirty years after the pulmonary fibrosis started she was admitted to Addenbrooks Hospital Intensive Care and was given very good care but they were unable to stop the latest infection. She died surrounded by her husband, John Fisher, and her mother and family. Her death is a great loss to all who knew her.
Josephine Nardi