Obituary: Jude Hartley

5th December 2024

Jude Hartley, an ex-pupil of Bill Johnson's, has sadly died aged just 68.  Despite her diagnosis of cancer, she continued to enjoy her life, as this photograph shows - it was taken on a trip to Singapore to remember happy school days and Jude is standing outside the married quarters where she lived with her parents.  

Bill Johnson writes: Jude Hartley, who accompanied Jenny Titford on the trip to Singapore in September to celebrate with me 60 years since they had entered my new class in 1964, had been diagnosed with a terminal cancer some months earlier. She almost called off the trip but then determined to go ahead. Both 'girls' thoroughly enjoyed the week, visiting the quarters where they and their parents lived in the 1960s and being treated to meals and other events by a number of my Singapore friends. They also explored old haunts. Jude's Dad was a civil servant and Singapore was the only overseas posting he undertook. The family travelled to and from Singapore on the Cathay and Chitral, P&O ships that made the regular trips between Britain and the Far East. (Norma and I had the entitlement of a free voyage home after our tours in Singapore but I wouldn't have been able to get to Hildesheim in time to take up my new post! We had, though, enjoyed our only ever cruise, on Cathay for a round trip to Hong Kong via Manila, in 1964.) 

Jude and Jenny were due to come to Lubenham, my home, on 6th December for another of our regular get-togethers and catch-ups; but on 4th December she was admitted to hospital. In an earlier blood test something was detected that meant she couldn't continue to receive chemotherapy. She died the next day. I wasn't able to go to her funeral but Jenny represented us both. 

Jude was 68 years old. I have attached a picture which shows the happiness she had from the Singapore trip: she's standing outside the hiring where she and her family lived.