Dennis Clifford (30 Dec 1928 - 15 Dec 2018)

In loving memory of Dennis George Clifford who sadly passed away peacefully in his sleep on the 15th of December  2018. At Queen Alexanda Hospital. Portsmouth. After fighting a cancer called mesothelioma, caused by close contact with asbestos. 

Born in London in Lambeth Hospital  Lambeth 30-12- 1928. Then lived in Page St. Westminster for the first few yrs. of his life. He was the eldest of 6 siblings from a big family of 4 brothers. Mick, Frank, Bertie and Bunny and 1 sister, Mourine, 

He was 12yrs old when world war 2 began, so lived through very hard times and would tell us all many stories about world war 2 and at the young age of 12yrs old, bombs were being dropped on London and his mum would be rounding all the kids up to make a run for the air raid shelters. When he was of age he went into the army and was stationed in Germany and Austria, somewhere he loved and revisited more than once in later life.

He met Anne, his future wife at the age of 15yrs old and they became childhood sweethearts and married not long after the 2nd world war on June 10th  1950. They then spent a wonderful 68yrs together right up till  2018.when Dennis sadly left us. 

He Was a wonderful father to 3 children, a fun grandfather to his 5 grandchildren, a lovely great grandfather to his 8 great grandchildren and was very proud of all of his family. So much so, that in his 80s he completed his family tree and found family he didn't even know he had. Also making lots of new friends when he joined up with the Clifford Association. 

He had many hobbies and a avid collector of Stamps & Coins. He spent a lot of time growing chrysanthemens and dahlias, and would then show them, where he won various trophies and medals for prizes.
He loved nature and flowers, which opened up another passion for him in photography. He also loved most sports and played tennis and badmington with his wife and in later life he took up golf and loved nothing more than playing golf with the men in the family. 

He enjoyed entertaining and always the life and soul of any social gatherings. A great story teller.! 

He liked to dance and was always very Passionate about most music and loved playing it as well as listening to it and taught himself how to play music on his organ and all his favorite big band music, which he loved. He was A big fan of James Last, Louis Armstrong and "Glen Miller," who he danced to with his wife Adrieanne at his only visit to England towards the end of the war. Ironically Glen Miller died on the same day as Dennis on 15th Dec. That would have made him smile to think he had something in common with his idol.

Dennis was a very sociable man and had many friends all over the world and always liked to have a joke and always saw the positive side of life. He was always laughing or whisling and his passion for enjoying life was infectious. Right to the last days before he left us, he was cracking little jokes and trying to make light of the fact he was dying. He would say, 'I have had a wonderful life and we all have to go sometime, I am nearly 90" 

In his 80s he learned how to use a computer and loved to be able to connect to long distant family and friends and keep up with what everyone was up too. 

He was a Very hard working man and worked exceptionally hard to provide for his family,  even in his later life and in ill heath, he took on the roll of carer for his wife who was sadly diagnosed with altzheimers in her early 80s. that changed their life drastically. 

Dennis was a Very humble man who was always greatful for all the wonderful things in his life, he was very passionate about nature and loved nothing more than to take his grandchilden for a walk in the woods, he loved to walk and managed to walk everyday, right up until he physically couldn't walk anymore. 

He had some interesting jobs in his life, working in a glass blowing factory for a short while, and even worked at the American Embasy for a while just after the war. He worked at The Metal Box factory for many years and Lucas Co. for a short while, in later life worked as a postman for a big insurance company. 

He loved to investigate new places and had travelled to most of Europe and many countries around the world including cruising around the Bahamas and America, where he had distant relatives. 

Dennis and Adrieanne had a white wedding at The Parish Church in Epsom,  Surrey, where Anne (Adrieanne) was brought up and they then moved to Portsmouth after they were married.

In the early 50s, his married life started in a caravan at Eastney, Portsmouth, later he moved to Paulsgrove, then Copnor and on to  Moneyfields Ave, where he owned a paper shop for a short period of time, then a move to North end and finally to Sarisbury Green, Southampton, where he continued to live out the rest of his life after retiring. 

Dennis will be sadly missed by all his family and friends and always remembered with love and joy that he gave us all when he was here. 
R.I.P. and God Bless Den