{"id":309,"date":"2019-12-20T17:44:44","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T17:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flotsam-jetsam-driftwood.co.uk\/?p=309"},"modified":"2019-12-20T17:44:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T17:44:45","slug":"my-father-brian-stow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flotsam-jetsam-driftwood.co.uk\/?p=309","title":{"rendered":"My father, Brian Stow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Young Dad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dad was born on 31st<\/sup> March 1922 in Edgware, Middlesex. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His parents moved to Totteridge in North London and Dad went\nto Queen Elizabeth\u2019s Grammar School, Barnet. He was very proud of his school,\nfollowed it throughout his life and was always a member of the Old\nElizabethans. He left school at 17 to start work though today he would have\nbeen university material. He joined the Standard Bank of South Africa and was\nthere until he was called up for war service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dad did not talk much about the war. He was in Royal\nSignals. He was shipped around and took part in the Allied invasion of Italy in\nJuly 1943, coming off a landing craft in Sicily carrying his radio. It is hard\nfor us to imagine being thrust into such a situation under fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dad\u2019s duties included taking over telephone exchanges in\nItaly and monitoring. He had a natural ability for languages and picked up\nItalian from scratch. In later years, he took his \u201cO level\u201d after going to\nevening classes and he spoke Italian well, as Gloria and I observed when we\nwent with the parents on holiday to Italy. Dad was also apparently able to pass\nfor a native of Vienna, such was his German accent from his time after his\ntransfer to Austria prior to de-mob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Dad returned to the bank in 1946, he met Mum, who had\nbeen working at the Bank for several years, being one of the young women who\nfilled the gaps left by the men on war service. Mum and Dad were married in\n1950 and were married for the best part of 67 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I am honest, I should say that we children, Marion and I,\ndid not see all that much of Dad during our childhood. He always seemed to be\nat work, which of course was for our benefit. \nIn those days he often worked on Saturday mornings, and went to the\nArsenal on a Saturday afternoon. He was a season ticket holder at Highbury, as\nwas his father until his death in 1964. Dad first went to Arsenal as a boy\nduring the Herbert Chapman era. We spent time with Dad on Sundays because he\ntook us to church at Stock, where we were in the choir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years Dad followed Arsenal on-line and also became\nquite good at on-line shopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dad was quite sporty. For a time, he played for a local\ncricket club, opening the batting. One great memory was his taking a one-handed\ncatch over his head while fielding on the boundary. I was most impressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dad\u2019s career at the bank saw him rise through the ranks to\nbe senior in the Trustee Department. Then he became a Head Office inspector for\nthe Standard Chartered Bank, so he then had the opportunity to travel the world\nfrom Djakarta to San Francisco and many places and offices in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dad retired in 1982 and Mum and Dad moved from Billericay to\nNayland in 1985. Dad joined the congregation here, where he remained until\nSunday morning outings became too difficult. I know Mum and Dad were very happy\nwith their new life in Nayland with the more rural environment and more room\nfor all the dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last year or so, I always tried to phone at 7pm every\nevening. Dad usually answered with a chuckle as he would have been waiting for\nthe call. I do miss that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retirement meant that Dad had more time for everyone and\nshowed more his kind and generous spirit. He was a thoroughly decent man and we\nwill all miss him very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Frederick Geoffrey Stow was born on 31st<\/sup> March 1922 and passed away on 30th<\/sup> July 2017.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dad was born on 31st March 1922 in Edgware, Middlesex. His parents moved to Totteridge in North London and Dad went to Queen Elizabeth\u2019s Grammar School, Barnet. He was very proud of his school, followed it throughout his life and was always a member of the Old Elizabethans. He left school at 17 to start … Continue reading My father, Brian Stow<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[33,34],"class_list":["post-309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memories","tag-brian-stow","tag-my-father"],"yoast_head":"\nMy father, Brian Stow - Flotsam, Jetsam and Driftwood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/flotsam-jetsam-driftwood.co.uk\/?p=309\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My father, Brian Stow - Flotsam, Jetsam and Driftwood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dad was born on 31st March 1922 in Edgware, Middlesex. 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