Jean Buckle, who has died aged 98, was a lifelong educator, and began her career as a primary school teacher in the postwar years.
Her first job was at Hucknall primary school in Nottinghamshire, where she met her future husband, Ken Buckle. They were married on Valentine’s Day 1953 at Southwell register office, with her brother, James, and his wife as witnesses. It was typical of them that it was a low-key affair, arranged for the early morning so they could go to work afterwards.
In 1963 they moved from Nottingham to the Fens, where Ken found a job as head of the school in Tydd St Giles, a village near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. Jean worked there, too, first as an assistant, then as a teacher, and she and Ken both remained at the school until their retirement in 1983.
The couple were well known and respected in their local area, playing a large part in establishing Tydd St Giles village hall. They also planted an orchard in their large garden, and many family members and friends remember helping with the harvest and coming away laden with apples and plums.
As keen golfers, and members of Sutton Bridge golf club, Jean and Ken played in competitions all over Britain. They read avidly and Jean painted. Every day, they read the Guardian and Eastern Daily Press, jointly completing the crosswords.
Jean was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the oldest of three children of Nell (nee Gadsby) and John (known as Leslie) Sharratt, who were poultry farmers in Blidworth, Nottinghamshire. Baptised as Hilda, she preferred her second name, Jean. She attended Sherwood Lodge school in Arnold, and then went to teacher training college in Leeds, before being evacuated to Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast.
In 2010, after Ken died, Jean moved to the town of Long Sutton in Lincolnshire, closer to shops and the services that would allow her to maintain her independence. She kept only what she needed, including her library of books, and she continued to read her newspapers daily.
When she lost her sight, she refused to let it stop her living in her own home. The radio, RNIB talking books and the audio Guardian enabled her to keep up with literature and current affairs.
She was happy for her carers to call her Hilda, explaining Hilda was the old lady she had become, while Jean had lived a full and varied life.
Jean was predeceased by her siblings, James and Jane. She is survived by seven nieces and nephews, including my husband, Matthew.
