You may donate to the Jean Dilliway Rose Fund by calling 0845 241 4828.

Jean Skelton was born into a military family on 6 July 1936. In 1938, her father was seconded to the British Military Mission to the Egyptian Army as an artillery adviser. The family accompanied him and they lived in Heliopolis, Cairo. There they remained until they were evacuated to Palestine in 1941, when it was thought that Cairo and the Nile Delta might fall to the advancing Afrika Korps.

After many vicissitudes during their time in Jerusalem, including the loss of a brother, Jean returned home in 1943 on board the troopship SS Orion in one of the first convoys to pass through the Mediterranean with fighting still in progress on Sicily. Her father was involved in the ‘D’ Day landings and after the war he was posted to Soltau, West Germany. The family joined him in quarters near the death camps of Belsen and Soltau. Her experiences there remained with her throughout her life; she never forgot them. It was at this time that she developed a heart condition which would plague her for the rest of her days. Her father’s next posting was to the Canal Zone, Egypt in 1950 and the family followed him there. Jean began her first employment with the Foreign Office (Security Intelligence Middle East) until they returned to the UK in 1955, where she continued to work as a civil servant.

In 1956, Jean met her husband, John, who was then stationed nearby, and they married at St John’s Church, Devizes in August 1957. Her husband was by this time on the staff of Mons Officer Cadet School at Aldershot and they began their married life at Fleet. Jean joined the British Red Cross and worked at several local hospitals as a volunteer, until her husband was posted in 1959 to Devizes and then Winchester to learn computer programming. While living in Winchester, Jean was active with the local Girl Guides and with the Guild of St. Helena. She also worked as a personal secretary to the managing director of a firm of heating engineers.

A welcome posting to Singapore followed in 1962 and here Jean busied herself with the leprosy hospital, the needlework guild of St Andrew’s Cathedral, the Guild of St. Helena and helping with fundraising to build a home for elderly destitute Chinese for the order of the Little Sisters of the Poor. She was also the Guide Captain for the daughters of service families in HQ Far East Land Forces and HQ Singapore Base Area.

On return to the UK in 1965, John was posted to Taunton and here their first son, David, was born in 1966. Because of Jean’s heart condition, the family adopted their second son, Andrew, in 1969. Sadly, he was to die in tragic circumstances in the same year as his mother.

Following John’s promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, postings to the Ministry Of Defence and HQ United Kingdom Land Forces Wilton, followed, and then in 1975, the family found itself in HQ 1st Division at Verden in Lower Saxony. Here, Jean continued her duties as wife of a head of service, with that of Guide Commissioner for all British Guides in an area stretching from Kiel on the Baltic in the north to Bad Harzburg in the Harz Mountains in the south. She travelled great distances carrying out these duties in her usual dedicated fashion.

When her husband was posted back to the MOD in 1977 on promotion to colonel, the family put down roots in Cliffsend in Kent. Jean began her long association with local politics at this stage, but she also actively participated in regimental duties, when her husband was appointed to his last command at Winchester in 1982 before retiring from the Army.

After his retirement, John worked for the Army Benevolent Fund for 12 years as Finance Director, before finally retiring in 1996. Jean always supported him fully and involved herself in the Fund’s activities.

At this time, John became involved with the Royal British Legion Care Home in Broadstairs, as Chairman of the Management Committee. The home underwent a massive and costly rebuild during his chairmanship and Jean concerned herself with the residents and with fundraising for the home. She was instrumental in setting up and running the "Friends of Maurice House" and her involvement continued after the reopening of the Home, when she too joined its committee.

Jean viewed her connection with politics as a means of helping the community. For some 25 years, she was actively involved in the women's section of her chosen political party, both nationally and locally and was local chairman for some 15 years. She was the Chairman of South Thanet Constituency Association from 1997 to 2000 and served on all of its major committees over the years, as well as standing as a candidate for the District Council on a number of occasions. In 2003, Cliffsend became a civil parish. Jean was elected Councillor and became the first Chairman of Cliffsend Parish Council. She died in harness on 10 September 2004.

In her 47 years of married life she considered her work as a wife and mother to be paramount, but she always found time to help others with their problems and to carry out voluntary work, which she considered essential to the well being of the communities in which she lived.

She is greatly missed.

You may donate to the Jean Dilliway Rose Fund by calling 0845 241 4828.