Henley Crowe with Kenyon and Sheila Crowe (top), with Gwelda Lambden (on her 70th birthday) and Marie Lambden (middle) and with wife Betty (bottom picture).
I am attending the funeral this morning of Henley Crowe, my second cousin.
His father Philip, like my Grandfather Frank, was part of a very large family in Kirk Michael who were all Methodists. When he chose to marry Betty, a nurse from Ireland while teaching in Sheffield and a Catholic, it was not easy for him.
Henley and Betty had five children and Henley's career as a teacher saw him rise from Peel Clothworkers to head of the Dhoon School, the first head of Ashley Hill in Onchan and then back to Peel Clothworkers as head teacher.
Whilst I can't pretend I spent a lot of my life in his company he was always a delight to talk to at family occasions and he was very close and kind to my mother. I also remember their delightfully big garden at Ballagarraghyn near Ballacraine before they moved to Douglas.
The last time we met was when we shared a table at a family party last November and the feature of our conversation was that he had so many good things to say about so many people. He commented on my likeness to my father and said lots of nice things about him something that is much less common than hearing about the Crowe side of the family for which he also had lots of memories.
Henley Crowe, a man who always saw the best in people.
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