Heather June Davenport Nee Stubbs

“You left us beautiful memories, your love is still our guide”

Heather passed away peacefully at Leighton Hospital with her devoted family aged 80 years on Wednesday 2nd March 2022.

Loving wife of John. Devoted mum of Andrew and Lesley. Cherished Grandma and Great Grandma. She will be remembered with affection by all her family and friends.

Her funeral took place at Crewe Crematorium Chapel on Monday 21st March 2022 at 12.15pm.

Family flowers. Kind donations for Cancer Research UK

For further information and to offer your condolences please telephone our Funeral Home on 01270 584447.

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Heather is and always will be a beloved wife to John, devoted mum to Andrew and
Lesley, much loved mother-in-law to Angela and John, doting grandma to Jordan,
Alex and his partner Jess, Danielle, Jade and her partner Rich, great grandma to
Ruby and Alex, a sister-in-law, auntie and good friend and neighbour to many over
the years.
Heather’s life was characterised by strength and determination and her ceremony
gave everyone the opportunity to remember her with kindness, warmth, and with
love and affection, and above all with gratitude for the memories she gifted.
John and Heather have been together sixty-four years, married for sixty of them and
they have always been two halves to a perfect whole, opposite sides to a perfectly
minted coin with some similar traits and different personalities but so well matched.
Heather was beautiful inside and out, she had a cheerful disposition and relentless
determination. She could come across a little shy and reserved until she felt
comfortable in company and then was extremely sociable and chatty especially with
people she knew.
Heather entered the world on 7 th April 1941 at Lyncroft House in Lichfield run by the
Salvation Army and in later life, she discovered a remarkable history of her early
childhood.
At an early age she was adopted by loving Methodist parents, her dad William who
absolutely doted on her, and her dear mum Florence and she had an older brother
At the age of fifteen, she started work in the car repair department at Rolls Royce
and was once asked to welcome one particular couple when they took their car in.
As she opened the door, she was thrilled to meet George Formby and his wife.
They weren’t the only people she met during her time at Rolls Royce. John was an
apprentice and training to be an electrical engineer and having seen Heather in the
factory once, she did make an impression on him at the time.
One day he was called to the car repair department and it seems when Heather had
put the kettle on, it tripped a fuse on the main board – he was totally drawn to her
lovely nature and although he didn’t have the courage to ask her out, it turned out
another apprentice was going out with Heather’s friend so she had a word with
Heather which then led to their first date to the Carnival at Queens Park and whilst
walking around, John just knew she was the one for him – would you ever imagine a
blown fuse would lead to spending the rest of your life with the love of your life?
Whilst courting for four years, Heather formed a loving bond with John’s family and
was especially close to his mum Elsie and dad William AKA Nanny Crewe and Uncle
Dicky, both incredibly easy going and laid-back people.
After exchanging their lasting vows at the Methodist Chapel on 14 th October 1961,
John and Heather spent the first nine months of married life with John’s parents and
it probably would have been longer, but Heather gave John a bit of ‘gentle’
encouragement to move into their first home in Sunnybank Road where they were
blessed with Andrew and Lesley.

They lived there for five years before moving to a larger house on Landsdown Road
where many of the neighbours became good friends..
Holidays were always a big part of family life and after buying their first caravan, they
had some fabulous times in stunning Pembrokeshire and to France discovering the
beautiful sandy beaches, tiny fishing ports, bustling markets and historic sites around
Brittany.
In 1979, having never flown before, John, Heather Andrew and Lesley ventured to
America to see John’s sister Irene and had three amazing weeks in Columbus.
They had such a wonderful holiday, John and Heather visited Irene again and
enjoyed several more trips to America over the years. They particularly loved
travelling East to West by Amtrak train and coaches, exploring places like New York,
San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and they went to Disney world in Orlando on
their own but again with Lesley, John, Danielle and Jade after Heather had cancer
treatment. They also went again to watch Jade dancing.
As well as travelling the globe, they experienced the luxury of cruising to the
Caribbean, Greek Islands and the Med visiting places like Italy, Portugal and North
Africa and Heather would have loved a fourth cruise, it was a long time in the
planning and would have been sometime this year.
Heather did love holidays but sometimes had a two-week turnaround between
arriving home, unpacking and packing again to go off on yet another adventure John
had instigated. He even bought a canal boat called Mr Chips as a bit of a restoration
project involving Heather who was extremely talented and creative with a sewing
machine making soft furnishings and curtains for home, caravans and the boat.
She became a skilled dressmaker after taking classes for many years with Winnie
Stubbs in Haslington and made most of Lesley’s dresses, matching doll’s clothes,
flowing party frocks and long dresses in the seventies and she made many show
dresses for Jade, Danielle and Ruby for their dance shows at the Lyceum.
Heather’s main passion in life was her family, she insisted on being called Grandma,
Danielle was the first to be welcomed into the world and looked after by Heather
whilst Lesley worked but as each of them arrived, they all became the centre of her
world.
She was incredibly contented at home, up with the lark feeding the birds and she
loved to watch them with her little bird book on the windowsill. After many happy
years at Landsdown Road, they moved to Stevenson Drive where they had a
conservatory built and on Fridays, she loved taking it in turns with her former
neighbours and friends to host a coffee afternoon which turned into several glasses
of wine and tea ended up as a quick salad or a takeaway!
With John’s encouragement again, they moved to Lyncroft Close in 2000, a small
estate in Crewe built on the land where once stood a very large Victorian property
called Lyncroft House, an name which linked the home in Lichfield where she started
life and the home where she spent the last twenty-one years.

Once they moved there, John bought another caravan and whilst they still enjoyed
holidays abroad, their touring days recommenced. Their last two holidays pre-covid
were massive family gatherings in Woolacombe and on both occasions, everybody
loved it.
Heather loved life, she was full of fun and a bundle of energy. She always sang
around the house, whether it was a hymn, or a current song and she often used to
sing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ to her dog Micky, ‘it’s would have been his birthday
today and she also adored her first Yorkshire Terrier, Benson and she was always
on hand for dog sitting granddogs as well as babysitting grandchildren.
She loved a good party and had many at home with John’s sisters and their families
staying over and Lesley remembers all the kids sleeping in the living room or any
available space.
Heather also liked to dance although John had two left feet! So, she got a huge
amount of pleasure watching Danielle, Jade and Ruby dancing in their shows.
She enjoyed cooking and baking, and she always sent the grandchildren home with
bags full of goodies. She liked to keep herself active with Tai Chi, line dancing and
yoga. She was good at cross stitch and was in the process of doing a big Disney
castle.
After buying another caravan in 2003, they toured again but often went on 1940’s
war weekend events at various locations throughout the country with Pickering and
Bridgenorth being the top two in their list of favourites. They also enjoyed watching
the George Fromby tribute act a couple of times at the Community Centre, her claim
to fame was meeting the man himself, in his hay day at Rolls Royce, much to the
amazement of everybody.
Another favourite pastime was walking, and they had loads of books on the subject –
and they put lots of little notes on different pages reminding them of hints and tips
like the best place for picking blackberries.
She loved to chat and could tell a tale or two. She and Lesley regularly spoke on the
phone despite having seen each other not long before and John told me he could
watch a film in the time it took for them to have their conversation.
Heather worked at Rolls Royce before getting married but was immensely happy
being a housewife, mum and grandma although she did also work in a post office,
newsagents and Calmac and in later years she was a dinner lady at Hungerford
School, but she and John have enjoyed a long and happy retirement together, with
precious time for family and leisure pursuits.

May she rest in peace.