Jan Viret wrote as follows about a year ago in response to my query as to when Elizabeth Downes died.
After the Wrens, in time she became a nannie and remained a very good friend of the family and the two boys she looked after in Little Bardfield. I don't know exactly the time scale, but she could have been with them for twenty years or so, but remained close to them until she died. I think it was after this she tested her vocation at East Grinstead, which probably only lasted a couple of months (so quite inappropriate to define her by this - a bit different from dropping out of uni , but maybe similar) I am sure there were gaps and she probably did other things that I don't know about.
After this she returned to Essex, lived in the almshouse, did nurse training and nursed until she retired. She was a wonderful cook and gardener. and had many friends. Ben and I used to visit often from Purley - she was so much a part of Canford, and both Ben and Hermione were very fond of her.
She died in 2008.
-I have just received a Christmas Card from Oenone Cox, in which she says:
I wonder if you met up again with Enid's daughter Noel (?) Mary in your early researches into Downes family connections, tho' I think she and Bob and possibly Judy all joined your family in a camping holiday organised by your mother in Cornwall in your extreme youth - she died very recently, after suffering from Parkinsons for some years, so has really jumped the queue for our lot.
(I will comment on the above items when I have got my Downes stuff out of store)
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