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Family Subtree Diagram : Skotty

PLEASE NOTE: If you do not see a GRAPHIC IMAGE of a family tree here but are seeing this text instead then it is most probably because the web server is not correctly configured to serve svg pages correctly. see http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/SVG:Server_Configuration for information on how to correctly configure a web server for svg files. ? Parent Parent Biological Child Biological Child Biological Child Biological Child Biological Child Biological Child Marriage (six children) 29 Nov 1921 31 Jan 2001 Robert William Bolton 79 79 Some of the memories by his son Ern.
Bob was born in Melbourne but was very young when the family moved to a property they had bought at Mannerim.
Bob enlisted in January 1942. He started his career in the RAAF at Somers where he earned his wings. In June he was transferred to Tasmania and in March 43 off to Mildura.
Whilst at Mildura Bob met a shy young lady. Despite her promise to her sisters that she would never go near anyone with a service uniform they were engaged 3 weeks later. He married Esme Hillier on 29 Dec 1943 In May 1943 Bob was posted to Woolamanata a bit nearer to home to learn to fly spitfires as part of the origin of 79 Squadron.
Mannerim residents must have thought the enemy had chosen their small hamlet to invade, as low flying beat ups became the norm with Bob showing off his new toy.
While at Woolamanata that Bob ran the Spitfires wheels along a very long shed and dairy. An empty bucket, a madly kicking cow and an enraged, milk spattered farmer emerged, in that order, from the far end of the shed. Bob landed back at base and jumped onto his bike to go to the same farm for milk. The farmer took him up to show him the wheel marks on the roof of the shed. He said that there was no milk as Bessie had kicked it over. Bob left saying he would try to ferret the scoundrel out.
Two passes in the same direction was the signal and in June he was off to Goodenough Island. He had been at Woolamanata for 3 weeks and that was his Spitfire training. From Goodenough there came a posting to Trobian.
It was decided he would be a good instructor so he was posted to Tasmania. He was horrified to find the plane he was to leave on was full of top brass (officers) so he wangled a change by feigning illness. The plane he was to be on crashed killing all on board. In Tasmania the Camp was surrounded by trees that "will force mischievous pilots up to a safe height" A plane made it between the trees and beat the place up scattering trainees and brass alike. A book was opened on who had managed to get through the gap. Trainee pilot Cameron won with a bet naming Bolton "The only pilot good enough." Bob was awarded the "Gong" This brightly coloured medal was 150 mm across and was inscribed THE GONG FOR STUPIDITY in large letters. He had to wear it on and off duty for two weeks. Bob contracted Polio...the dreaded disease of the time and was then posted to Warburton Repatriation Hospital to convalesce.
The war ended and Bob settled in to a house he bought in Catherine Street West Geelong. His love for flying was kept honed with the purchase of a Tiger Moth. Christmas Eve 1947 Bob's father died and Bob moved to Mannerim to help run the farm. The Tiger was killed when a friend missed an approach into Belmont Common and many years later it was replaced by a Cessna 180. Bob flew many trips in this plane. He used to take parachuters up in it at Meredith and was famous for his "aerobatics" (lazy eights) on the way down.
One of Bobs flying friends was Conrad Cancy. Everyone considered Conrad a very good pilot but alas one stormy night the news arrived on the bush telegraph that Conrad was missing. Bob immediately joined the official search. As no flight plan had been submitted (OK in those days) detective work was as salient as searching. He had disappeared in the mountains while heading to New South Wales. The search was eventually called off. After the snow had melted Bob went up and found him... exactly where he always said he would be.
Bobs aerial antics continued with many farmers jumping off their tractors to see what had made such a roar. He always approached from behind as taught in the air force. Was this to avoid the twin brownings at the front of the tractors? Or to increase the surprise element - The latter I think. Farmers used to pride themselves on the straightness of the furrow but many a kink and in one case a full loop was blamed on Bob. He used to get a lot of fan mail from someone called the Department of Civil aviation.
Bob and Esme and John went on a flight around Australia's coast necessitating a lot of planning and preparation. When he reached W.A.'s North East he was on about the quietest bit of road in Australia. From the air one could see the dust from a car about 20 minutes before the car itself was visible. For a real adventure pilot with little regard for silly regulations the temptation was simply enormous. They took a movie of the trip and there was the scene of a car in the distance with a rising plume of dust behind it. Gradually the car grows larger and the nose of the plane sinks lower and lower. Soon the car is practically filling the screen and the plane roars past and then up into a stall turn. There is the car lying on its side in a dusty ditch on the side of the road, surrounded by a cloud of debris and the front wheel still spinning. An angry head and a clenched fist emerge from the front window. Some time later Bob is telling one of his customers about his trip around Australia. The guy is very interested, as he has done some time up there too. Bob invites him to view his home movies and of course, guess what? The same guy! It was him who had got run off the road by this maniacal fiend and now he gets to see the movie!
At about this time Bob and his father played a trick on Bobs neighbour by lacing a bottle of drink with cascara - a strong laxative.  Eric, a train driver grabbed his drink and headed off to work to drive the train to Ballarat. The trip was punctuated by numerous stops during which the driver could be seen running across to nearby bushes, clutching wads of newspaper. Bob worked at the shire as a civil engineer before taking various contracts removing trees and carting hay, grain and water. For this he bought a truck and inventively mounted a crane on the back. I think it was never registered. Bob would put the front wheels of this truck onto another truck and tie them together and the crane would be piggy backed to wherever.
Once, while carting hay, he killed a snake with a pitchfork, stabbing it in the head. The next morning at about 5am the snake was unloaded in the centre of Geelong as the hay was carted to Lara. A chap had his photo in the paper holding it, hole in the head and all, claiming to have killed it when it had "nearly made it down a storm water drain" He didn't even guess what a fool he had made of himself.
Tray trucks do not have a roof over the tray and the temptation was to go fairly high with the load - often well over the legal limit and a rope or two only if the load looked a bit pecarious. One truck, so loaded and roped, with Bob at the wheel hit a huge pot hole and the truck started to tip. It was past the point of no return when Bob calmly said, "Hang on" and reached out to fold his valuable mirror in to save breaking it. The wire tying the tray on to the truck came to the rescue by breaking and the tray parted company letting the truck fall back on its wheels. I am sure Bob's motto was "Why buy a new part if a bit of fencing wire could do the trick?"
The Cessna got bent at one time and Bob took it to Orange in NSW on the back of the truck. He watched an RTA inspector come up behind and there he sat - so close that Bob could only see his shadow in the mirrors. Bob moved over to the gravel "To let him pass" and in so doing flicked a stone up, breaking the inspectors windscreen. The result was that he was booked for multiple offences including no log book, dangerous driving, etc. The Cessna was ready when the court case came up. He was found not guilty as log books are unnecessary when you are not contracting and it was good driving to let a car pass if it was following too close. Costs were awarded against the RTA. Bob got a free trip up to pick up his beloved Cessna Bob then started a business distributing petrol and this continued for many years. It was at this job that he grew famous for being able to load a 200 litre drum full of petrol onto a truck unaided.
He enjoyed nurturing his image as a strong man and I remember him being challenged to break an egg in his hands by just pressure on the ends. After the first one the challenger called him a cheat and watched closer... then again. That challenger really ended up with egg on his face. Years later I read that this feat was impossible. I showed this to Bob and he said with a chuckle, "not if there is gravel stuck to your hands" He had cheated.
In 1981 Bob had the first of several strokes, which were to cause his demise 20 years later. This was minor and his recovery was almost 100%. The stroke gave Bob Tunnel vision and robbed him of the ability to read although he could still write.  His therapy was to do the crosswords from the papers. He would write the clues as he saw them and know what he had written. He would then work out the answer and write it in.
About 1983 they started filming "The light horsemen" We were invited to Hawker to the filming, and decided to fly.  Bob's Cessna had been destroyed in the inevitable crash so we hired a 172 and away we went.  Watching the making of the film was very impressive and we got on very well with John Blake who was playing the part of my grandfather. As we were leaving Bob asked him for an autograph for a girl he worked with. "What is her name?" asked John. Donna now has a treasured autograph "To Emma with lots of love, John Blake" On the way back the plane burnt a valve resulting in a precautionary landing due to low fuel. I should have known that with Bob on board the flight would not be mundane.
Bob's next stroke was bigger; more devastating and started a long slow deterioration as more and more of his brain was affected. He was still driving but the family decided this had to stop. There were too many fools on the road that didn't have patience enough to accept a car sitting through a green light then heading off on the red. They could not even accept one travelling at ½ the speed limit in the wrong lane.... Or both lanes. His slow debilitation eventually led to his being placed under professional care in a nursing home ...first in Queenscliff then Western Beach at Mariesville where he finally died on 31st January. Bob had his sense of humour right to the end. He could be having a real bad day but a quick reminescence of the time...... would quickly have tears of laughter rolling down his cheeks. 1 May 1894 24 Dec 1947 Sloan (Scotty) Bolton DCM 53 53 Joined Australian Light Horse Regiment in World War 1 Wounded by land mine - lost both legs in Middle East Won DCM at Beersheba
There was a film made about the charge of Beersheba called The Lighthorsemen with actor Jon Blake playing the role of Sloan.

Elsie put Sloan's diary into a small book "Dreams of the Past" below is a small extract.

I think his "Dream of the Past" gives the best account of his enlistment: - "Sitting in my home at Armadale", he says," my thoughts go back to September 1914.  I was in Geelong with it friend, Jack McCooke.
I had been out on a chaff cutter and we had pulled in for a week before going on to another place.  Jack and I were walking around the streets, and seeing several fellows in khaki, our thoughts turned to going to the war.
We went up to the drill hall and looked at a soldier on guard with a fixed bayonet.  We went to pass him, but he pointed the bayonet at us and told us to keep back, which we did without arguing. But when we tried a second time he let us past, and we went in and told an officer we wanted to enlist. He looked at us for a few minutes, and then he took a lot of particulars about us, and told us to go and be medically examined.  Dr. Grimwade examined us, and both passed the test quite easily.
Next day, September 10th, we reported again at the drill hall and were sworn in, and sent to Melbourne the same day. We were sent to the Sturt Street drill hall, where there were a number of others, all going to make up the 2nd Expeditionary Force. Having spent the night at Sturt Street, we arrived at Broadmeadows about 3 p.m. next day. Broadmeadows Camp lies about 2 miles from Broadmeadows station, on the estate of a Mr. Wilson. We came to camp through the west gate, and as we passed we got several cheers and jeers from the first contingent, who were in camp about 3 weeks. Several of them shouted "Bread and jam", some shouted cheers for the King, and some groans for the Kaiser.
As I passed by I took notice of the Y.M.C.A., Salvation Army and Church of England tents; all of these came in very useful in after camp life. When we landed at our camping ground we were ordered to sit down and smoke, and we had about a half-hour's "spell".  Then we were ordered to rig our tents.  You can imagine our amazement when they put 10 of us in one tent.  We expected about four.
After that we were ordered to fall in again to get our blankets - one each.  We didn't sleep much the first night, as I think the ground was rather hard for most of us; however we got used to it after a few days. We were allotted to B Company. Infantry, and went out drilling on the Saturday. Next day ten of us were put on fatigue to carry meat for the soldiers, and the same day Captain Smyth put me on Military Police duty, where I had to stay for l4 weeks. The principal duties of the military police were watching the hotels and keeping soldiers from getting too drunk. I soon tired of that, and tried to get into my old company in the 14th battalion, but it was too late, as they had a new captain; so I applied, and after riding tests got a transfer to B squadron Light Horse.  (Jack went into reinforcements of 8th battalion). (Note - Sloan met him later at Gallipoli.  He was killed before the end of the war.) Fifty per cant of the camp got leave at Xmas, and I went to Geelong, where I spent a very enjoyable time.  I also got leave at the New Year.
I was transferred to a squadron, in which I stayed about 6 weeks, though I often want round trying to get a transfer to other units that would be sailing before our squadron. About 1st February 1915 our squadron was sent war as reinforcements for the 4th and 8th regiments of the Light Horse. I was among the 52 who were put into the reinforcements for the 4th Light Horse. We were warned to go away several times, but when the time came to go we were always put back for a few days more.
All of the Camp got 90% leave for a few days at Easter, and when I came back we were warned to sail on Monday April 12th.  I was vaccinated on Thursday April 8th.  The Dr. was like an old bear.  He left four marks on my arm.  I'd been inoculated twice, - first time about a month earlier, and next time about a week after I left Boradmeadows Camp on April 12th 1915.  We got the 9 a.m. train at Boradmeadows and went to Port Melbourne, where we boarded the "Wiltshire", a boat of about 14,000 tons, fitted out for carrying horses.
When we went on board we had to clean all the places and make it ready for shipping our horses. Not much happened the first day; we went to bad about 9 o'clock, our beds being hammocks swung from the ceiling of our mess room; every man had to sleep over his table. When we got up next morning we carried same chains to tie our horses, then had breakfast at 8.30.
The first lot of horses Come about 10 o'clock, and we had to put them on board.  My job was standing at the bottom of a long staircase and catching our hands behind horses that would not mount the stairs.  When the second lot of horses came I got the job of leading down, which was much easier.
We finished shipping about 4 o'clock. About 4:30 the Infantry came on board, and we sailed about 5 o'clock, leaving the Star of England, which was also laden with troops; also leaving many weeping friends behind - Some waving handkerchiefs, others cheering on the Port Melbourne pier. When we were 2 days out from Melbourne a lieutenant of the 4th Reinforcements of the 7th Battalion died very suddenly.  Nothing much happened for about a fortnight, except that a few horses died and were thrown overboard. I spent my birthday in the harbor at Colombo, which we left on May 2nd without getting ashore.  After that the weather was very fine, and we had a very pleasant journey to our next and last port, which was Suez. We landed there on May 15th 1915.
The Star of England came in next day.  We unshipped our horses and took them to the train for Cairo. As I was leading two around one knocked me down and kicked me on the head.  I was not badly hurt, but had to go to the doctor. We caught the train to Cairo at 7 o'clock and landed at the end of our journey about 4,o'clock on Monday morning.  On Monday we were transferred to the Heliopolis camp, where all the Light Horse were encamped.  I met several Broadmeadows acquaintances.
On Tuesday we all got leave and went into Cairo.  My friend employed a black guide, and we had a look around.  We also went out to sea the pyramids.  The guide took us through one of them. Cairo is the dirtiest city I've ever been in. The 4th Light Horse, for which our squadron on Wednesday May 17th for the Dardanelles. Their horses at  Heliopolis camp.  The 8th,) went away on the Saturday before we reached was reinforcements, left They want on foot and left 9th and 10th regiments went away on the Saturday before we reached Egypt. Thirty men were called our of the 4th reinforcements of the 8 Light Horse before the regiment was gone a week. I met a lot of wounded Australians, who had just come back from the landing at the Dardanelles.
Things were very rough according to their stories. We left Heliopolis on May 21st and took the train for Alexandria, and sailed on the "Australind" for Lemnos on the evening of the 21st. We stayed 5 days in Mudros Bay, when we left the Australind - not sorry either -, and went on board a mine sweeper, the "Nawmarket", anchoring off the coast of Gallipoli on June 2nd 1915.
Sleeping on the boat that morning we could hear the crack of the rifles and the bullets passing over our boat.  No one knew what he had to face, but everyone seamed in good spirits and readiness." 2 Mar 1897 31 Aug 1996 Elsie Reid 99 99 MEMORlES - Shared by Harry Thornley at the Memorial Service for Mrs Elsie  Bolton on September 3rd, 1996.

Elsie Reid was born in the Kiewa Valley in 1897.
She was born into a  pioneering family and this is probably where she gained her very strong constitution with which she was blessed right through her life. At the  age of 14 she moved to Geelong to complete her schooling and she lived at  the manse with Rev. and Mrs H. K. Mack. It was during this time that she  met her future husband Sloan Bolton - a young Irish immigrant.

She became a qualified school teacher, teaching at various secondary  schools throughout Victoria while completing her Bachelor of Arts degree  at the Melbourne University. Talking to her about these times she  described how, when teaching at Yackandandah, she would ride her bike  home to Tawonga on a Friday after school - a distance of 57 kms. Also at one time when needing dental treatment, she rode a horse from Tawonga over the pass into Bright, had teeth extracted and rode home again - a  round trip of 90 kilometres.

In 1920 at the age of 23, she married Sloan Bolton who had returned from  the war after serving at Gallipoli and Palestine. He had lost both his legs in action and spent two years in the Caulfield Repatriation Hospital. Sloan's strong determination showed out when he was the only  one in a ward of 40 amputees who succeeded in mastering the then,  cumbersome artificial legs.

In 1922 she and Sloan moved to take up the farm at Mannerim - much  against the advice of friends and the Repatriation Authority. This was to be her home for the next 51 years. These were very difficult years. The  1920's were the start of the depression years.

As well as raising six  children she had to be the 'farmer's apprentice' due to Sloan's severe  disabilities. The days could start as early as 3 am because their  Queenscliff milk contract required delivery by 5 am. Don't forget that these were hand milking days - and delivery was by horse and cart. At one  stage she had to take her baby who was suffering with whooping cough down  to the dairy while she was milking. Life also had its risks. Her diary records her terror as she had to get  up in the middle of the night to separate two valuable jersey bulls savagely fighting for supremacy.

It wasn't practical to awaken Sloan due  to his disability. It has been stated times were hard and on one occasion  when funds were desperately low, Sloan had purchased a well bred but  emaciated bull, counting on qualifying for a Government subsidy, available at that time. In spite of Mum's earnest prayers, the inspectors  when they came were quite definite that the bull would not qualify for  the subsidy. She broke down and cried when they left, but shortly afterwards the men returned saying they had changed their minds. What an  answer to prayer! In 1942, during the 2nd World War, at the age of 45, she answered an  urgent appeal from the Education Dept. for married women to return to  teaching.

She faced the challenge and returned as the Head Teacher at the  one teacher rural school at Mannerim. She taught there for the next 25 years retiring in 1967 at the  age of almost 71 years. She and her  children helped with the milking in these war years. Her eldest son Bob had joined the Air Force and become a spitfire pilot. The children she  taught were given a sound grounding in the 3 R's. The quality books she  read them established sound moral values.

Her pupils have nostalgic  memories of nature walks, warm fires and hot cocoa. Each child,  regardless of academic achievement was made to feel special which  resulted in so many who have kept in touch during the years. Those were  the days of surprise visits by the school inspectors. One inspector, on  such a visit was shocked to hear an impudent student addressing the grey-haired teacher as Grandma. His intended rebuke was cut short when he  realised that the teacher was indeed the young Bolton's grandma.

Her son  Bob gave her a present of a small motor bike on her 57th birthday and she became a familiar figure as she rode it to school each day. Her great  grandsons were most impressed when they were shown her motor bike licence recently, no doubt having visions of her astride a Harley Davidson! Through all these busy years she somehow found time to attend to her  children's spiritual training and no matter how tired she was, they never  missed out on their bedtime stories or Sunday school memory work. Part of this training was being responsible with their pocket money - threepence  and later sixpence. They had four boxes - 1. Missions and tithing  2. Others-presents. 3. Savings  4. Spends. How do you split threepence into four boxes? There were halfpennies in  those days. It is on good report that one of the sisters, who shall  remain anonymous, was looked on with great suspicion when her spends box  seemed to gain more money than the others!

Her husband Sloan did in 1947 when she was 50, and less than a year later  their home was burned down. Diaries which had been kept from childhood  and many other valued personal possessions were lost. She stopped teaching in 1967 at the age of almost 71, when most people  are at least winding down, Mum at last had time to pursue some of her own activities. She enrolled in a writing course and completed many correspondence Bible study courses. She perhaps had one indulgence -  books. Books ranging from classical poetry to in depth Bible commentaries. In 1973 when she was 76 it became time to leave the farm at Mannerim.

The  family purchased a home in Henry Street in East Geelong and then began to  worry about how Mum would cope with the move after fifty-one years of  country life. She took to it very well indeed, She loved her home in Henry Street and quietly helped out some of her elderly neighbours who  needed visiting, encouraging, their grocery shopping done or their paper  purchased and delivered. She became much respected and loved by her  neighbours. Most of these elderly neighbours were up to ten years younger  than she was! She had a special friend in Mrs Dulcie Drayton, who lived opposite and who died this year at the age of 95. Mum was a valued member  of a Bible study that Mrs Drayton held in her home for over 20 years.

They continued right up to last year when there were only three left. Now  they have all gone. Henry Street was her base for many outreach activities. It was quite daunting for her to take on some of these activities. She was a shy  person, but was never afraid to overcome this shyness and take up a  challenge.

One amazing project she took on in her late 70's and 80's was  selling recipe books, for church funds, from door to door. She travelled  on foot and by bus far and wide, even as far as Bell Park and sold over  5,000 copies. In her eighties she would walk into town to visit Karin at  the manse. She had quality fellowship time with Karin - sometimes going  to Grace McKellar and the Geelong Hospital visiting people who were  lonely. On some of those visits to the manse she would tie up newspapers  the church was collecting for funds, clean the toilets and the Church  hall.

One story about her time in Henry Street involved a holiday visit by two  of her grand daughters, Vikki and Kellie. They organised a club with a joining fee of two cents which would buy a present for Nanna. Invitations  were made and cupboards raided for food and drink. Activities included  Bible study (very brief) a Bible verse to be learned and games. Art and craft were also on the agenda. Vikki and Kellie had to leave after the second meeting, but the children  kept coming each day and the numbers kept growing. After two weeks Mum  managed to reduce it to just Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, but  kept it up right through the Christmas holidays. She provided the food  and activities and I'm sure the Bible stories etc. If anyone wants to  read Mum's delightful version of this story, she wrote it up in the Church magazine 'Panorama' which she compiled and edited until she was 93.

When she was 95 she had a bad fall and broke her pelvis in several  places. Her independence had come to an end and she had to leave Henry  Street after 19 years. After two months in hospital, she went to live  with her daughters spending two or three months at a time with each of  them. She never wanted to be a burden and her spirit of independence still shone through. She complained that her memory was failing.

I recall  after a trip up the Newell Hwy in 1994, telling how I had driven through the Moonbi ranges in New Wales. Banjo Patterson's poem "Over the Range'  was about these Moonbi ranges and was included 4th Grade Reader. I got  out the book to read it to her and I read the first few words when she  then recited the whole poem of 32 lines without fault. This at the age of 97! Just 12 months ago she had a stroke and had to go into hospital. She  spent her last 9 months in Maryville Nursing Home.

There she received  wonderful care from the staff; for which the family is very grateful. People took to her - her special smile and genuine interest in others,  drew people to her. Even up to the last day of her life people commented  on that special smile. People were enriched by her. Her love for her family was a major priority in her life. It shone  through everything. She rejoiced in their successes and felt for them in all their troubles. Her continual prayer to the end was that each one  would come to know the Lord. Her grand children and great grand children  have memories like Tom Piper steak  and vegies, chocolate custard and  home made lemon cordial. Fare later became more up market with choc chip  home made biscuits. The lolly jar was always well stocked for the young  ones and some of the older ones! Her grand children had a healthy respect for her capabilities.

One time, out at Mannerim, she fed her grandsons  grilled chops and one of them asked what the brown lines on the meat  were. "Marks from the griller," Grandma replied. "Are these chops really  from a gorilla?" asked her round eyed grandson. She also kept a large tin  labelled, 'Barrets Satin Boiled,' which had once contained boiled lollies. Another grandson, Cameron, rather nervously inquired if Marga  really had boiled Satan in that big tin! I have known Mum for 46 years and she has been Mum to me for 43 years.

I  knew she had been a great influence on my life. but it wasn't until I started to remember her life, that I realised how much. I can remember  clearly that first day I met her. Anna and I had not long met when Anna  invited me to the farm at Mannerim for the week-end. I remember clearly  on this summer evening Mum came in, we had tea and then Mum took up her  Bible and announced family worship, reading and prayer. We were kneeling  in prayer and I thought  had come into a home of religious fanatics!

I am now so grateful for the quiet encouragement I received without really  knowing it. Not many people would he aware of her outreach and the numerous mission  activities she supported so generously with prayer. finance and  encouraging letters, so that they became personal friends. One may get the impression that she was very serious, and she was - over  serious matters, but she had a wonderful sense of humour. Some may even  say a bit twisted at times - which I think she has passed on to her daughters! I recall when Anna and I were living with her,

I was working  in Geelong and I had to ride a bike two and a half miles to the  Queenscliff Rd. to catch the bus. It had been raining and the road was  like a quagmire. My foot suddenly slipped off the pedal and I measured my  length in the mud. I staggered up trying to choke down whatever words  were building up, when I looked around to see my wife and mother-in-law holding each other laughing hysterically!

I want to read to you a letter she wrote on my 59th birthday, when she  was 89, which illustrates to me the wonderful humour she possessed. 5th April 1986 Dear Harry, I want to wish you a really happy birthday tomorrow, but I feel I'm  labouring under heavy disadvantages. I can't scribble off reams of poetry  at the drop of a hat like you and Terry do. I haven't any suitable cards,  and I no longer have the energy to walk into Keswick and buy one. They  never seem to have any worth buying anyway, and those they have are far  too dear. So what can I do? (a) Pretend I forgot and just ring up  tomorrow evening with apologies for my bad memory, or (b) be to your virtues very kind, and to your faults a little blind, and write you a  nice improving (or reproving) mother-in-lawish letter. Seeing that the  letter is half written already, I'll settle for (b).

These faults that I'm to he kind to? Well, I don't seem to notice as many  as twenty or so years ago. Probably the good company you kept during  those years did eventually take effect. So what about the virtues? Much later - I don't know how long I've sat here just trying to think up your virtues, and I've finally decided that it would be most unwise to  give you such a bombastic opinion of yourself by listing them all. So hoping you are not too disappointed, Your very sympathetic Ma-in-law.

P. S. I hope that birthday comes up to your very highest expectations. Finally. I want to read to you four verses from the 13th chapter of 1st   Corinthians, which give the characteristics when love is displayed in a human being. If this was a questionnaire of Mum's life she would get a  tick in all the right boxes. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is  not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily  angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always 5 Feb 1929 12 Aug 2020 Annabel (Anna) Joyce Bolton 91 91 Elsie (Mary) Mary Mayberry Bolton Margaret Ellen Bolton Elizabeth (Jean) Jean Bolton 11 Jul 1939 7 May 2003 Hugh (Ken) Kennedy Bolton 63 63 Generated by GenoPro®. Click here for details.