General Notes

Born in1928, the second of three children, Peter, Wendy and Pauline. Their mother, Amy Symonds, loved the book "Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie and as a child had decided to name her children after the book, hence Peter, Wendy Maire and, had the third child been a boy, John or Michael.  Pauline was born but I am not sure from where that name was chosen.  Growing up in the midst of World War II, she was 17 when the war ended.  She was evacuated from London with her siblings when the war was in full swing to a farm in the countryside. The children were made to do chores and were somewhat mistreated, with Peter and Pauline having to sleep in an old bathtub.  whenever their mother would visit, the farmers would put fresh sheets on the bed and then take them off again after their mother had left.  Wendy developed TB during the war and her brother, Peter, also fell ill.  Both recovered.  Following a surprise visit by an Auntie (godmother) the children were taken back to London to take their chances with the german bombing; their mother feeling they were better off with her.  Wendy spent many a night in the underground stations of London while taking cover from the german bombing.  She had a couple of near misses, one when a bomb narrowly missed their house.  They had taken cover under the kitchen table and damage was done to the house. The second time was when she was out at a dance with friends and a couple of US servicemen.  They left the dance and some minutes later, their was an air-raid and a bomb dropped on the dance hall, killing all inside.  After the war, she started working for Anglo American Gold Corporation in London as a secretary where she met Gerald James Risby, an upcoming young executive.  Once they were engaged, she had to leave her position as secretary because romantic involvement between employees was not condoned.  They subsequently married and, during the course of Gerry's career, visited and lived in many countries including USA, Canada, Bermuda, South Africa, Rhodesia, Mozambique and other countries were there were mines.  Following her husband's death in South Africa, she moved back to Canada and then a couple of years later returned to the UK and settled in Bexhill-on-Sea, where she lived the remainder of her life.  She remarried 15 years after Gerry's death to Jack Mitchell and died of lung cancer on January 3, 1999.