My Uncle Paul was kind enough to put together some memories of Mom. It is an entertaining read:
Avril Valdes was born on 14th August 1939 in the suburb of Eastcote in West London,England.During the Second World baby Avril remained with her Mother being too young to send into the countryside for safety.Eastcote is proximate to Northolt Airport which at that time was a concealed airdrome with an underground runway . Fighter aircraft would take off rolling out from underground a grassed area covered with dummy sheep to add to the deception.Avril’s mother Winifred was a State Registered Nurse and had been appointed District Nurse for the Eastcote area and including the “secret” air base.Winifred would from time to time wheel Avril in her pram the few hundred metres from her home to visit the Polish fighter pilots billeted at the base.On one such occasion Avril had an exciting day when a German bomber flying low with engine damage, spotted her mother and pram and commenced machine gunning them.Fortunately , an off duty airman bravely guided the pair into a near by bomb crater, many of which were scattered in the area.So poor Avril was nearly a goner almost before she was able to walk !There was a satisfactory outcome to the adventure when, alerted by the noise of the bomber and gunfire, four Polish pilots manned their Spitfires , took off from their underground shelter and shot down the crippled aircraft. During the six years or so of hostilities Avril was shuttled from house to house as each of four houses was bombed and destroyed.Every cloud has a silver lining though, as apparently each house the family moved to was a better house than the last one bombed and finally Avril and her mother settled in a large rather grand house in Eastcote where Winifred took in about fourteen displaced local residents sleeping in every available space.The war came to an end and Avril’s brother Paul was born just prior to the end of hostilities. Winifred’s husband John finished his post at a factory where he had been an engineer maintaining aircraft.John took up a role working for a chain of London greengrocers.Rationing continued after the war and as a previously unavailable fruit, John brought home one banana which caused much excitement. The banana was left on the kitchen table for a few minutes unguarded. The. Banana disappeared completely and after some interrogation a six year old Avril confessed to the crime and announced to all that the banana was very nice but the outside stuff was a bit chewy ! No one had ever showed her that a banana should be peeled before consuming !All food was hard to obtain especially meat but Winfred managed to procure two ducks which she plucked and rolled up in damp towels and stored in a kitchen cupboard. Avril always recalled the excitement of her mother storming downstairs armed with a poker and chasing a burglar out of the house and across the small garden. The burglar had a duck in a towel under each arm and escaped across a fence but… unfortunately for him and to the delight of Avril, he lost his trousers scaling the fence !In fact the trousers turned out not to be his but a pair he had stolen in those early hours from a Mr Hussey a neighbour.Avril and eventually her little brother went to school at the Catholic Sacred Heart School in nearby Ruislip.Here Avril excelled with her hockey stick not only at hockey but as an enforcer guarding and protecting her frail little brother. Memories are of a pretty and tall girl with with long pigtails flying behind her dealing natural justice to bullies fleeing from attacking her sullied brother.From that primary school Avril attended St Dominic’s Convent School in Harrow ,again a train ride away from Eastcote.Here she excelled once again in most subjects for the rest of her school life.Avril spent time in Switzerland and Austria skiing and had good netball and hockey skills.Unfortunately Avril also learnt cooking and the products of her cooking attempts were brought home to be eaten and approved.The family soon learnt to dread cooking day.One particular item was a much prized dish of Potato Soup which was to be bottled and brought home to an apparently admiring and supposedly hungry family !After all her efforts poor Avril dropped the bottle on the way home waiking down Harrow Hill and the eagerly awaited soup was lostA distraught (but relieved) family appeared devastated by the loss and comforted the poor cook after she had stormed home. After her convent schooling Avril decided at the age of 16 to travel, first to Montreal in Canada and then onwards to Long Beach in California USA. Avril loved Americans and everything American.True to her word she boarded a ship to Canada and from Canada she travelled to Long Beach. Her exploits and travel in the USA led her to Cape Canaveral and ultimately to Charleston South Carolina where she reared and educated three wonderful children ,Kim, Marcus and Marius .Avril’s ex-husband, Ivan, sadly pre-deceased Avril and both he and Avril will be in our memories and prayers forever as we are able.