Evelyn Ruth Wheeldon (20 Jan 1934 - 21 Apr 2016)

In loving memory of Evelyn Ruth Wheeldon who sadly passed away on 21st April 2016

Sadly missed,always loved, but never forgotten. Mother of eight, friend to hundreds.

Evelyn Ruth Wheeldon (Nee Hall )

Evelyn Ruth Hall was born in Loveday Street, Birmingham on Saturday 20th January 1934, the fourth child of a total of five children of Harry and Doris Hall. She was a fighter from birth having been born two months prematurely and was fortunate to survive her early arrival at all back in the 1930’s, but survive she did and her natural strength to overcome life’s many setbacks was evident even at that early stage.
They lived at 6 back of 23 Great King Street, bordering on the areas of Aston, Hockley and Lozells. Her mother Doris having lost a son their second son Arthur as an infant, Mom became the third child with sisters Frances and Doreen being the elder siblings and only surviving brother Dennis being the youngest.
In 1940 her childhood was rudely interrupted by World War 2 when at six years of age, she and her older sister Doreen aged 10 were evacuated to Picklenash Farm, near Newent in Gloucestershire. The farming family that took them in weren’t exactly pleased to be looking after city kids and she didn’t like them but after a while they were moved to another family where she was much happier. Her education suffered due to her evacuation even though she did attend a school there, probably because she and her sister Doreen missed their parents and family, constantly worrying never seeing them again.
After the war they went home again to Birmingham and loving family. Mom was a bit of a tearaway as a teenager and wouldn’t allow anybody to bully or pick on her. Heaven help anyone who tried, she could throw a punch as good as any man if she had to defend herself and had a temper to match if rubbed the wrong way, but at the same time had the kindest of natures, the warmest of hearts and would give anyone her last penny if they were in need.
She met Dad, (Harold Wheeldon), when they both worked in the engineering industry for Redfern & Stevens, in Alma Street, Aston. She was in her very early twenties and worked on a capstan machine and Dad was six years her senior. They used to meet up during their lunch breaks and he’d share his sandwiches with her. They married in July 1956 and went on to have eight children, seven boys and one girl.
Steven the eldest and then Kim (the only girl) were rapidly followed by Alan, David, Robert, and Paul. Now there were six of us and during her pregnancy with Paul in 1964, we almost lost her to pneumonia just after he was born. Again she fought it, survived, and willed herself back to good health. We elder kids thought that would be that, no more siblings but even though we did have a telly, six years later in 1970 Gary came along. Mom was told that she couldn’t risk having any more children, and that Gary must be the last for her own safety. They said it could be fatal for her to have another but typically she didn’t take any notice and along came number eight John in 1972. Again she proved them wrong and survived to tell the tale against all the medical advice. Well John was (at last) the last and far from being the runt of the litter, grew up to be the tallest.
Mom was proud of all her children and loved us all equally. It wasn’t an easy life she had bringing us all up and trying to keep us out of trouble as Dad worked nights a lot, the elder children had a lot of responsibility to help out and keep the discipline.
When she was able and the kids were being more independent in the late 1970’s, she worked as a domestic cleaner for B.T to help make ends meet and have some money of her own. She made friends very easily, wherever she went and her sense of humour was legendary and abundant. She had a devilish naughtiness about her, an unpredictability that would have most of us on tenterhooks when we took her out for a meal. Never knowing if she’d say something totally embarrassing and she would do just that if she could, with an elfish glint in her lovely clear blue eyes. Age didn’t prevent her amusing herself with her jokes and jolly japes. I’m pleased to say that she laughed a lot and enjoyed making those around her laugh.
She loved animals and animals seemed to communicate with her very easily, and her psychic abilities were always showing themselves. She often saw things that went unseen by “normal” people, even seeing our Dad a few years after he passed away in the 1980’s. She wasn’t overly religious but did believe in Angels claiming to have seen them too over the years.
She was extremely superstitious, very sure about what was considered bad luck and what was good. She was also very spiritual, believing that we’d all meet again one day with the ones we loved. That an alternative existence was possible in a place our soul moves onto that exists but not in any religious texts of any specific religion known to mankind.
Daughter Kim was her constant companion especially after Dad passed away in 1985, and was not only a devoted daughter but her closest friend. Mom loved to see the grandchildren when they eventually arrived and did see a lot of them in their early years. She had twenty grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. Her nature was such that she loved her adopted grandchildren just as much as her biological grandchildren.
She was visited very frequently by those of us who lived close by and we’d take her out for meals, have her over for lunch and take her on holiday when we could. Even Paul, (in Northern Ireland), John (in Derbyshire), Gary (in Winchester) and Robert (in Jersey) came as often as they could to see her and Mom had visited them too over the years.
She was a wonderful mother, loved deeply by us all. We could not have asked for better. She was a little crazy, an enigma, funny, generous, and so full of love. She was our world; the glue that held us together and like a magnet drew us to her again and again because we knew something this good would not last forever. Now we feel rudderless with no central core to bring us together, but then it’s up to us to try to maintain her wish that we don’t lose each other in the fog of grief.