Tributes to Stratford AA and mental health advocate Eve Thompson after her death at 95
Beloved great-grandmother and mum of three Eve Thompson sadly died aged 95 on 8th April.
A resident of Stratford and Tiddington for many years, she was known for support for those with mental health problems and her advocacy for Alcoholics Anonymous.
Her family said: “We are here to say goodbye to a wonderful, generous and kind mother grandmother, great grandmother and friend.”
Born 1929 in Birmingham to May and Ernest Salt, she attended school in Edgbaston, Birmingham, until the outbreak of war when the family moved first to a cottage in Northamptonshire and then to a flat in Stratford, when she attended the Leamington High School for Girls.
In Stratford Eve was smitten by the theatre: doing walk-on parts then given to townspeople. She joined the Birmingham Rep theatre school when she was just 15. A year later she went to Charleston USA on six-month exchange scholarship.
Back in the UK she worked as an assistant stage manager for repertory theatre companies in Whitby and the south west before trying other avenues.
Various jobs followed included a spell in a Cotswold antiques shop; agony aunt team on a national newspaper; and as secretary to Vicky the German-British political cartoonist.
She met her husband John, a civil servant, through friends and married in November 1954. They were deeply committed to each other for over 50 years of marriage until John’s death in 2007.
The couple had three children, Katy in 1955, Jenny in1958 and Ben in 1963. Sadly Ben died in 2016.
Eve had to give up work when she married but busied herself in the community. In the 1960s she was part of the Mother Care for Children in Hospital campaign. In despair about finding a nursery school that would accept Ben - a child with additional needs, she became involved in the preschool playgroups association and later trained as a nursery nurse working with children with special needs.
In 1981, when John retired, they moved to Stratford.
Her most significant contributions to life outside the home were membership of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and the National Schizophrenia (now Rethink Mental Health).
Eve and John joined the AA after hospitalisation for alcoholism in the early 1980s and became stalwart members, remaining sober for the rest of their lives. Her family say they have received many tributes from other AA members about the extent to which Eve helped them turn their lives around and how much they owed to her.
When son Ben developed chronic disabling schizophrenia, Eve became involved in the National Schizophrenia Fellowship both locally and nationally, becoming chair and working tirelessly with others to campaign for and provide services for people like Ben living with schizophrenia. She was instrumental in helping set up a community home staffed by professionals in Stratford where Ben lived for many years, with Eve visiting daily until the end of his life. Eve also worked with NHS professionals in Warwickshire to provide support for other carers.
A lover of literature and Shakespeare, she regularly attended productions - muttering the lines under her breath as they were recited on stage. She could also be a demon scrabble player and a highly competitive Countdown viewer, while claiming she was no good at either.
Her family added: “We all have so much to be thankful for, and memories to treasure. We shall miss her kindness, the warmth, the generosity, and always being there for us.”
As well as children Katy and Jenny, Eve leaves behind four grandchildren: Liam, Bryn, Anna and Miriam; and seven great grandchildren: Finian, Primrose, Aurelia, Sophie, James, Eva and Kit, and wider family
Eve’s funeral is on Wednesday, 30th April, 1pm, at Oak Hill Lawn Cemetery and Crematorium, South Way, Hatfield, UK, AL10 8HS. A live link is available here
