Jeanette May Portman (1 Feb 1936 - 8 Apr 2020)

In loving memory of Jeanette May Portman who sadly passed away on 8th April 2020.

Jeanette was born in Alvechurch, Worcestershire on the 1st February 1936 to William and Frances Cox. She was the younger of 2 children, Jean being 4 years older than her. Her childhood was marred by her parents separating. Her father left the family home when she was approx 12 years old and never saw him again until she was 44 years old with the help of the Salvation Army. She carried this burden all her life unfortunately and left her with trust issues which affected relationships over the years.

On leaving school she worked at the Metal Alloys in Redditch and also made fishing flies and did dressmaking.

She married John Portman on 9th July 1954. He was an stoker in the Navy so was away at sea so she returned to Alvechurch.

Richard was then born in January 1958 and John left the Navy and the 3 of them set up home at 55 Jubilee Avenue, Crabbs Cross, Redditch. John was working as an engineer at G.P.O which is now British Telecom. They then managed to move to 14, Golden Cross Lane, Marlbrook, Bromsgrove in 1966. It was a 3 bedroom bungalow with a huge garden which was to become her pride and joy.

Mom worked for a short while at Bromsgrove General Hospital as a care assistant for the elderly.
Gaynor was born in January 1968 and Jeanette was at home taking in alterations for dressmaking, gardening and turning her hand to DIY and carpentry. She made by hand all the fitted wardrobes in the house and could often be seen in the nieghbourhood carrying wood home. She also enjoyed decorating, carpet laying and tiling and would turn her hand to most things.

She went back to work when Gaynor went to school doing part time hours at Lea Hospital in Bromsgrove which was an old institution hospital for severely mentally and physically disabled adults. A lot of them were violent and epileptic and she took a lot of hard knocks and broken bones but she loved it. She would do anything for them and would be Santa for them at Christmas going around the wards. As Gaynor got older she worked full time on night shift. She had a racing bike to get to and from work and later on a little yellow Honda Express moped!

Then she got Ben. The absolute love of her life. A 6 month old, neglected, naughty black labrador came and caused chaos in the family home but everyone loved him. Mom found her joy of walking and would walk miles with him. After Richard and Gaynor left home, John and Jeanette moved into another bungalow a stones throw from the Lickey Hills. Jeanette and Ben would be walking through the woods at least 4 times a day. Ben was 14 when he died and she was absolutely devastated. She unplugged the phone and had 2 weeks off sick from work.

In 1992, John took early retirement and Jeanette took redundancy and they emigrated to St. Lucia in the West Indies. Richard had already been living out there for 6 years and was married. They sold the house, car and pooled everything together and took off. Unfortunately John died 6 years later and Jeanette came home to start again at first living with Gaynor in Bearwood but then buying a terraced house around the corner. She was there for about 3 years and then bought a house in Stone Cross, West Bromwich in 2001. She lived there until 2016. Richard had also come back to the UK and lived local to her.

She realised in 2016 that she wasn't invincible any more and she needed more help. She hadn't had the best of health for years and had beaten breast cancer at 70 but also had heart problems and arthritis in the spine. Gaynor was living in Derby so yet again she sold up at age 80 to start again in a 2 bedroom bungalow in Sinfin. She was happy pottering around the garden and doing bits of DIY like she always used to but she was deteriorating. After a series of falls and mini strokes it as decided that even with carers going in that she couldn't stay at home. She was diagnosed with vascular dementia and went from hospital to nursing home.

She was in the nursing home for 9 and a half months initially fighting against being in there because she had always enjoyed her own company but as time went on she accepted it as home.

She celebrated her youngest granddaughters 18th birthday at Christmas and her 84th birthday with tea at Gaynor's house.

Gaynor was allowed to go and see her the night she passed because of the Covid-19 rules but was restricted to an hour. She was very calm and peaceful and not in any pain and she passed way about 20 minutes after Gaynor got home.

She was a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother and very nearly a great great grandmother with the youngest member of the family being born in New York the day after she passed away.

R.I.P.

R.I.P