My father, Ron Hughes, who has died aged 86, was diagnosed with Waldenström macroglobulinemia, a rare cancer, at the age of 50, and as a result had to cope with health complications throughout his life. He was a keen supporter of the NHS and, in his working life, a technical translator from German to English.
The NHS was important to him. In May 1970, while living and working in Germany he wrote to the prime minister, Harold Wilson, on behalf of a “small group of Englishmen” there, urging the government to make a greater effort to improve the tattered image of Britain in Europe.
He and his colleagues believed TV programmes broadcast in Germany had presented a distorted picture of the NHS. My father wrote: “Any true assessment of the NHS must be incomplete without emphasis on the most important feature of all, the sense of security every Briton enjoys in knowing that he can receive the best medical attention without becoming a burden.” Ron was courageous in managing his health and dealing with each medical issue that arose.
He was born in Chatham, Kent, to Bill Hughes, a dockyard worker, and Elsie (nee Best), a housewife. On leaving Gillingham grammar school for boys in 1953, Ron undertook a five-year apprenticeship at Chatham Dockyard. He met Jackie Morris at the Chatham town hall New Year’s Eve dance in 1956. He was a ballroom dancer and she was a jiver – but they clicked, and were married in 1959.
In 1961 Ron sailed regularly to South Africa with the merchant navy, then the following year joined the civil service, initially with the Ministry of Public Building and Works and then as an engineer at RAF Northolt in west London. In 1963 his work took my parents to Libya, where Ron was based at the main power station at RAF El Adem, and my brother, Matthew, was born. In 1968, my parents moved to Erlangen, Germany, where Ron worked as a technical translator for the Siemens company, and I was born.
In 1970 our family returned to Britain, settling in Frimley, Surrey, though Ron continued his technical translation work. Two years later he became a member of the Institute of Linguistics and was elected a member of the Translators Guild.
Walking featured throughout his life. He undertook the 100-mile Tour du Mont Blanc in 1985, and in 1991 walked the GR5 trail from Geneva to Nice with a friend to raise money for Frimley Park hospital in Surrey – in particular the ward where he had received his cancer treatment. In 2004 my parents joined Matthew for the last few weeks walking the Camino de Santiago, finishing in Santiago de Compostela.
He will be remembered for his determination, dry sense of humour, and kindness.
Ron is survived by Jackie, Matthew and me, and by a granddaughter, Elysa.
