Winifred Patricia 'Pat' Tyson (16 Feb 1923 - 20 Feb 2020)

In loving memory of Winifred Patricia 'Pat' Tyson who sadly passed away on 20th February 2020.
Winifred Patricia Tyson “Pat” was born in Nottingham to Ernest and Gertrude Tyson. She was a prolific reader for most of her life. From an early age she would read library books intended for her father as well as her own selection. She would read in excess of one book a day! This led to having a great vocabulary, lasting knowledge and many and varied interests.
She started work at Boots at the age of 14 and then went on to work at Players. With her best friend Pauline, she made many visits to theatres, concerts and the cinema, fostering the life long joy of music and dance. She went on to teach ballroom and Latin American dance.
In war time she was often responsible for looking after her three younger sisters, Betty, June and Ann. One evening, with parents absent, the house was hit by an incendiary device which set fire to the roof and attic. Pat put out the fire using a stirrup pump much to the admiration of the air raid warden who arrived later.
At the Palais de Dance, Nottingham, she met Jozef Gierejkiewicz, a Lancaster Pilot with the Polish 300 squadron. They were married in 1952 and moved to Lincoln. They went on to have Jeremy, Julian and Gervase.
When the children were older Pat took a temporary six week position with Mawer and Collingham department store selling children’s toys and stayed for 18 years having graduated to the supervisor of the ladies fashion department. There were many family holidays enjoyed with her sisters and their families building treasured memories.
She retired in 1983 and devoted her time to her reading, theatre visits and her love of plants and flowers. She would combine visits to many gardens as part of her family holidays and travel in addition to nurturing those in her own garden.
In later life Pat continued to demonstrate her incredible vocabulary intellect and agility. When completing crosswords with her sons she could often answer the clue even before the question was finished. She could still recite poems learned at school 83 years earlier.
A compliment to her enduring enjoyment of both crime fiction and eclectic choice in music is the theme from Morse which was special to her.
Pat was always moved to hear the song “Because” as she recalled her mother singing the song accompanied by her father on the piano.