My friend Jean Willson, who has died aged 82, was an inspiration to many, especially those who, like her, campaigned and cared for people with learning disabilities.
Jean’s younger daughter, Victoria, was born with profound physical and mental disabilities. Aged four, and often screaming for up to 12 hours a day, she was placed in a care home 120 miles away from the family home in Islington, north London. Jean, with other families, campaigned for local provision for Victoria and children with similar issues.
After a four-year struggle, which was supported by the organisation Kith & Kids, Islington council opened a small home on an old hospital site and Victoria returned to the borough. As she grew into an adult, Jean pushed the council for a two-person tenancy of a bungalow with 24-hour support where Victoria could live with another person with learning disabilities. Jean, with the second tenant’s mother, Pat Fitton, and I, wrote of these events in Home at Last, published in 1995.
From the early 1980s Jean contributed to a national Mencap initiative for people with profound and complex disabilities. In 1992 she worked with Pamis (Promoting a More Inclusive Society) for those children and adults, and remained a governor for 20 years. She led wonderful, insightful workshops for parents, sharing her knowledge and experience, and advised them, for instance, to take a briefcase full of papers to meetings to establish equity with professionals.
In the 70s Jean first encountered Centre 404, an Islingon charity providing services for people with learning difficulties. She became a key figure in the charity as a volunteer, advocate and campaigner, and then for stints as its chair and president. After her retirement in 2021 she was made life president. She described the charity as a ‘‘lifeline and a heart centre’’ – its ethos is her legacy, placing service users and family carers at the centre of every decision. In 2011 Jean was appointed OBE for her work.
She was born in Islington, and lived there all her life. Her father, William Cramp, was a lorry driver and her mother, Ellen (nee Buxton), worked in a brush factory. After attending Barnsbury girls’ school, Jean worked for the Post Office engineering department, first as a wages clerk, later as a PA. She met Norman Willson, a printer, at a party and they married in 1963. Their first daughter, Tara, was born in 1966 and their second, Victoria, in 1970.
Although she lived through many heartaches and setbacks, Jean was always positive. She loved to party and her fundraising events were extraordinary. She filled unused plots with colourful plants, as well as creating a garden at Centre 404 in memory of Victoria, who died in 2013.
Jean was active in her local church. She enjoyed holidays abroad, especially in Turkey. She delighted in health spas, massages and the local Turkish baths.
Norman and Tara survive her.
