Jennifer Hull (27 Feb 1929 - 31 Jan 2017)

Jennifer Paterson was born in Montrose in 1929. Jennifer’s grandfather was James Paterson, a well-known artist and founder of the so-called Glasgow Boys. She was the fourth child of five having two brothers, James and Robin, and two sisters, Anne and Elizabeth. Her father, Fergus, pioneered Scotland’s early hydroelectricity projects but he died when Jennifer was still a child, whereupon the family moved to Perth.

After leaving school Jennifer joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS), where she trained as an air traffic controller. On leaving the WRNS she worked as an air traffic controller at a civilian airfield near Perth, where she met her husband to be, Peter Hull. Peter had joined the RAF during the war and flew Mosquito aircraft; after the war he joined Airworks Ltd and was working as a flying instructor at the airfield where they met. Peter and Jennifer married on New Years’ Eve in 1951.

Peter re-joined the RAF as a flying instructor when they married and he and Jennifer lived in a number of homes, starting out in a caravan, as they were too young at the time to get a married quarter. They lived at Kirton Lindsey, North Lincolnshire, then Little Rissington, Gloucestershire, before settling for around 10 years in Longstanton, near Cambridge. Peter instructed on Vampires then Chipmunks (with Cambridge University Air Squadron) before he left the RAF in 1965 to become secretary of the Vintage Sports Car Club (VSCC) and the family moved to Kingsclere, near Newbury. In the 60s and 70s Jennifer trained and worked as a nurse. In the 80s and 90s she taught Yoga and was a Cruse bereavement counsellor.

Peter and Jennifer had 2 children, Alison and Christopher. Alison contracted meningitis at birth and was disabled as a result; Jennifer cared for her until she died in in 1989. Christopher joined the RAF and served as a navigator on the Vulcan, Phantom and Tornado aircraft before completing a number of staff tours with NATO in Italy and Belgium. Peter fell ill in later life and Jennifer cared for him until he died in 2003.

Jennifer left Kingsclere in 2015 to be near her son, Christopher, when her own health started to fail. She settled into Tennyson Wharf Care Home near Lincoln and died peacefully there on 31 January, aged 87. She leaves her son, Christopher, two granddaughters, Kirsty and Caroline, and a great granddaughter, Niamh.