An obituary from "The Victorian", 1993 by Brian Vibert
The above photo shows Frank Lewis, Miss Aubrey and Thelma Tilling at Government House
Victoria Alexandra Marianne Aubrey: An Obituary
Many of us considered Vic Aubrey to be indestructible. She had always been around and had graced every important College event with her presence for as long as we could remember. Sadly, though, her health declined in the last months and she died peacefully and suddenly) on 11th March 1993
Vic was born on 9th October 1904 in Staffordshire and moved to Jersey in 1926, three years after attaining her teacher’s Froebel Union Certificate. She joined the staff of Victoria College Preparatory School and served there with dedication and distinction as a full time teacher for 47 years.
She refused to retire and could not he kept away and for the last thirteen years her love for the boys and for the school and for the importance of religious education ensured that she came to Prep on an unpaid basis on two days each week. Her years of such close involvement with one school must set a record. Even the war years did not interrupt her commitment for, although she was evacuated to the mainland with many of the boys, it was she who cared for and taught the Victoria College evacuees placed in Bedford School.
She was well ahead of her time. She established her own pupil-teacher relationships long before associations were seen to promote closer liaison and co-operation. Her class buzzed with life and activity as she made learning real. Neatness and tidiness were not on her curriculum; she offered chickens, rabbits and guinea-pigs to be part of the curriculum, and she cunningly smuggled every member of her menagerie into the hallowed precincts.
Enthusiasm, efficiency and devotion were her hallmarks in whatever she undertook. She lived “over the shop” for fourteen years and assisted with the boarders. Later, in her own home at Bouley Bay, she provided boarding facilities and there are many who recall those days with a chuckle as they tell stories of the disciplined routine, the Spartan conditions and the culinary disasters. (Vic often laughed at her inability to cook!)
She was Cub Mistress for a long spell and one of the Cub Packs now proudly bears her name. She was Play Producer extraordinaire as year after year she put on performances to mark Christmas, Easter and Ascension Day. Boys, staff and parents all rallied to help and. even in the latter years when her eyesight failed, the show went on and audiences appreciated the work of the tireless and legendary Miss Aubrey who by then was 81 years of age.
We all loved her lively sense of humour, her oft repeated funny stories and her hearty laugh. She had a fantastic memory and could recall in detail events of her early teaching days. She was kind. She was generous. She was special and she enjoyed the friendship of many, including those she had taught, their parents and her colleagues. She had no family in Jersey but more than compensated for this with those whom she loved and who adored her.
Vic always recognised the privilege and responsibility which those who teach the young have. She built her own life on the foundation of the Christian faith and God's word was precious to her. At her Funeral Service, the Bailiff of Jersey Sir Peter Crill read the lesson from the Book of Proverbs. He was one of her many former pupils of whom she was rightly proud. He read the words "Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it." Vic believed that to be true and her finest memorial must he in the lives of those whom she trained and who today reflect her sound teaching.
She had planned most of her funeral service. She had also requested that she be buried at sea. So, on the afternoon of 19th March, after a Service of Thanksgiving in Trinity Church with the Prep choir leading the singing, her coffin sank with quiet dignity into a calm sea near the Demi-des-Pas buoy in full view of Victoria College glistening in the Spring sunshine.
Vic Aubrey will be missed but we thank God for her full life and for the many memories of her which we can treasure.
Brian Vibert
Many of us considered Vic Aubrey to be indestructible. She had always been around and had graced every important College event with her presence for as long as we could remember. Sadly, though, her health declined in the last months and she died peacefully and suddenly) on 11th March 1993
Vic was born on 9th October 1904 in Staffordshire and moved to Jersey in 1926, three years after attaining her teacher’s Froebel Union Certificate. She joined the staff of Victoria College Preparatory School and served there with dedication and distinction as a full time teacher for 47 years.
She refused to retire and could not he kept away and for the last thirteen years her love for the boys and for the school and for the importance of religious education ensured that she came to Prep on an unpaid basis on two days each week. Her years of such close involvement with one school must set a record. Even the war years did not interrupt her commitment for, although she was evacuated to the mainland with many of the boys, it was she who cared for and taught the Victoria College evacuees placed in Bedford School.
She was well ahead of her time. She established her own pupil-teacher relationships long before associations were seen to promote closer liaison and co-operation. Her class buzzed with life and activity as she made learning real. Neatness and tidiness were not on her curriculum; she offered chickens, rabbits and guinea-pigs to be part of the curriculum, and she cunningly smuggled every member of her menagerie into the hallowed precincts.
Enthusiasm, efficiency and devotion were her hallmarks in whatever she undertook. She lived “over the shop” for fourteen years and assisted with the boarders. Later, in her own home at Bouley Bay, she provided boarding facilities and there are many who recall those days with a chuckle as they tell stories of the disciplined routine, the Spartan conditions and the culinary disasters. (Vic often laughed at her inability to cook!)
She was Cub Mistress for a long spell and one of the Cub Packs now proudly bears her name. She was Play Producer extraordinaire as year after year she put on performances to mark Christmas, Easter and Ascension Day. Boys, staff and parents all rallied to help and. even in the latter years when her eyesight failed, the show went on and audiences appreciated the work of the tireless and legendary Miss Aubrey who by then was 81 years of age.
We all loved her lively sense of humour, her oft repeated funny stories and her hearty laugh. She had a fantastic memory and could recall in detail events of her early teaching days. She was kind. She was generous. She was special and she enjoyed the friendship of many, including those she had taught, their parents and her colleagues. She had no family in Jersey but more than compensated for this with those whom she loved and who adored her.
Vic always recognised the privilege and responsibility which those who teach the young have. She built her own life on the foundation of the Christian faith and God's word was precious to her. At her Funeral Service, the Bailiff of Jersey Sir Peter Crill read the lesson from the Book of Proverbs. He was one of her many former pupils of whom she was rightly proud. He read the words "Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it." Vic believed that to be true and her finest memorial must he in the lives of those whom she trained and who today reflect her sound teaching.
She had planned most of her funeral service. She had also requested that she be buried at sea. So, on the afternoon of 19th March, after a Service of Thanksgiving in Trinity Church with the Prep choir leading the singing, her coffin sank with quiet dignity into a calm sea near the Demi-des-Pas buoy in full view of Victoria College glistening in the Spring sunshine.
Vic Aubrey will be missed but we thank God for her full life and for the many memories of her which we can treasure.
Brian Vibert
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment