We aim to publish obituaries of those Old Bordenians we have lost, even if sometimes we learn of their passing sometime after the fact. In a recent drive to update records we were sad to hear of the death in 2021 of Stan Whitnell. His nephew and fellow OB Allen Whitnell kindly provided this obituary of Stan which we are honoured to publish.
Dennis Fowle (at School 1945-51) contacted the OBA on seeing the obituary for Dick Baker, who he had known at School. Dennis has sent us a further tribute to Dick Baker which we publish below:
It is with great sadness we report the passing of Francis (Dick) Baker CBE in December. His daughter, Karen Page, wrote to the OBA with this obituary of one of our most distinguished OBs both through public service but also in supporting the School.
Following notification from his son, we note the death on 4th July 2023 of John Frederick Hearn, teacher at the School during the 1960s.
Mark Sayer (OBA Committee) offers this personal tribute to his old teacher:
We are sad to report the death of Ronald Swan who was at the School from 1936-41. His grandaughter Catherine contacted us to pass on the news. Ron passed away on 27th April 2023 aged 97.
We regret to report the passing of Jonathon (Jonny) Webb who attended the School between 1990 and 1995. His friend and fellow OB John Gardiner has provided this fulsome tribute to a life well-lived but sadly ended by cancer at the early age of 45 on 2nd April.
Jonny attended Borden Grammar between 1990 and 1995. I knew Jonny from later in his life, but we overlapped at Borden for a while and we used to joke that I might once have given him a detention. ‘Did you become a prefect?’, I much later asked Jonny. ‘No!’, he replied, with a vigorous shake of the head and one of those amused grimaces which always signalled, for him, awareness of perhaps a little more fun enjoyed than sticklers might have condoned. Jonny once described his time at Borden to me as lively. (‘Lively’ was a very Jonny adjective.)
With great regret we announce the deaths of three Old Bordenians in recent weeks.
The daughter of John Raymond Allard (School dates 1938-45) has been in contact to report his passing in March 2022.
Paul Martin (1990-1996) wrote to the OBA with a personal tribute to David Jenkins.
OBA Committee member Mark Sayer pens a personal tribute to Old Bordenian and School teacher David Jenkins, whose death in August 2022 in France has now been reported.
Its with great sadness we learn of the passing of David Jenkins (1960-2022) who was both an Old Bordenian through his studies at the School (1973-1978) and teaching career which ended in 2015. Many OBs will have known 'Dave' Jenkins as a fellow pupil during his years or studied under him in his Science classes.
One of our most illustrious Old Bordenians, Admiral Sir Kenneth Eaton, died on July 20th 2022.
It is with great sadness we learn of the passing of Stephen Bedelle on 15th June 2022. Stephen attended the School 1969-1974 with his twin brother, Paul.
We have previously shared the news of the death of Peter Highton (1939-1947). OB Martyn Lawrence contacted us to provide some recollections of his friendship with Peter.