Betty Jewson 1929 - 1999

Miss  Jewson  (Betty)  will be remembered with love and affection by all pupils who attended St. Michael’s.
She was Matron almost from the inception of the School and remained so until it’s demise in 1969. 
To most of us boarders she was the first face we saw when we first arrived at the school and to what was a pretty un-nerving experience in our young lives and she stayed a barrier between us and the harsher realities of school life for as long as we remained at St.Michael's.
It is difficult to comprehend but in 1953 when I joined the illustrious body, Betty was only 24 years old, younger than most of our own offspring are now and she took responsibility for a  large and disparate  group of adolescent boys, some full of bravura, some shrinking violets, some homesick, some relishing the freedom that being away from home brought, some precocious some introspective but all treated with an even hand, with kindness and fairness.  Not that Betty suffered fools gladly, there was no soppiness about her and we were made to understand that life was to be lived and a few knocks along the way were all part of growing up. She was always approachable, though not between 6.45 and 7.00 on weekdays and for an hour on Sunday morning when the “Everyday Story of Countryfolk” took precedent over most other things.
It is, I think fair to say that she subjugated her own life to that of the welfare of her charges, her surrogate, family for as long as the School existed and stayed a staunch friend until her death.
She hadn’t the happiest of times later in life being widowed so quickly after finding happiness and suffering greatly as she did from arthritis. Movement was very difficult and she had to give up driving but she was ever present at our reunions where she held court and you often had to join a queue to have a word with her such was her demand. Her memory was phenomenal recalling as she did names, faces and far more stories than some of us would care to admit and which she recounted to all with relish. She was simply The Best.

 R.I.P. Betty

You went too soon

You deserve your rest but you will be greatly missed

 Martin Graville