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Eynsham Village News

George Adams (1916-2012) 12 Apr 2012 A man of kindness and thoughtful encouragement who blossomed in retirement

The Rev Peter Ridley writes to The Times on 10 April 2012: When George Adams (obituary, April 6) retired to Eynsham (where I was vicar) I wondered how a geriatric physician might prepare himself for the onset of old age. One answer was that he taught himself to paint, and he was soon producing excellent pictures, including good depictions of village scenes. He presented two beautiful paintings to us, one of the church, and one of the cottage where my wife's mother lived. They are treasured adornments of our living-room wall. George Adams was a man of kindness and thoughtful encouragement, to whom so many people owe a gratitude that they will never have been able to express.

Don Chapman adds: George and his wife, Mary, became very much part of Eynsham after their retirement to the Coach House in Newland Street. They had an immaculate garden which they opened for Eynsham in Bloom and, as Peter Ridley recalls, in retirement George became an adept artist - a talent which led in due course to his becoming chairman of the Eynsham Arts Group.

For three years at the beginning of the 1980s he was also chairman of the Eynsham Society, presiding over its affairs with gentlemanly firmness. During his time he, the late Peggy Garland and Sue compiled the Eynsham Circular Walks leaflet for Oxfordshire County Council, which George illustrated. As well as being a very kindly man he was a fastidious dresser. I remember encountering him reconstructing a stile in Pinkhill Lane. No gardening togs for George. He wore a smart tweed jacket, equally smart corduroy knee breeches, stout woollen stockings and carefully polished brown boots.

He had numerous friends. He regularly got together with the late Charles Caine over the day’s crossword and every Monday read the British Medical Journal to Sue’s mum, Dr Hilary Macfarlane, who could no longer see.

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