Tuesday, October 5, 2021
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I only met Don and his wife Jane in person once. In April 2019 my elder son, Andrew, and I flew across from the U.K. to meet our long lost American ‘cousins’ for the first time. Don’s grandmother, Fannie Winget, and my paternal grandfather, John Thomas Marriott, were first cousins, Fannie having emigrated from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, with her grandmother, mother, two aunts and another cousin in 1869, leaving her two surviving uncles, including my great grandfather, behind.
I first got in touch with Don and Jane around six years ago and was also able to correspond with his eldest son, Brian. On a lovely New Jersey day over two years ago, we were finally able to meet, first at Don’s home (see photo) and then over lunch at Brian’s place (see photo), where we also met more of the family, including three of Don’s other children, Robert, Dan and Wendy, as well as three of his grandchildren, and also Don’s daughter in law, Brian’s wife, Barb, and his son in law, Wendy’s husband, Andrew Cleffi. Both Andy and I thought what a close knit and loving family they were, a great credit to Don and Jane and their firm religious faith.
Now Jane is sady alone but I have no doubt that her family will keep rallying round her as they have done over recent years. Don did not have an easy start to life; but I feel, from what I have learned from him and his family, that his was a life well lived.
My wife, Linda, and I, together with our sons, Andrew and Edward, and their families, send our Winget ‘cousins’ our deepest condolences.
