Doris Eva Watson was born on 2nd October, 1925 in Forest Hill, London. Much of her childhood was spent there with her brothers Jack and Bill and sister Violet, and it seems she had happy childhood memories and spoke fondly of her Mum and Dad, their allotment which provided well during the war years and her little fox terrier Fiat. Fiat was, by all accounts, an extremely smart dog who was often sent to the shop to collect an egg which he would carry home in his mouth without breaking it!


During the war Doris spent some time with her aunt in Buntingford, an experience she used to reminisce about often and clearly enjoyed. A couple of years ago she visited Buntingford with Lynn and Mark, and was delighted when she was able to find her aunt's old cottage where she had stayed.
It seems that there was a lot of dancing and merriment during this time.


During the war she had worked for Cable and Wireless and met her future husband Sam Jordan during that time and they were married in March 1946. Within the next few years they had settled in Veda Road, Ladywell and had three children, Kerry, Lynn and Nick, all of whom she was immensely proud and encouraging in their education. She had a happy marriage but was sadly widowed at the young age of 51.






She continued to work at the Natwest Bank in London, travelled to Hong Kong twice to see her ex-next door neighbours – also called Sam and Doris - travelled to Luxembourg to see Nick and his family who were living there at the time, frequently visited Kerry and Lynn in Suffolk and spent much time on her garden which was often admired by her neighbours – always a riot of colour, lots of flowers everywhere – she was particularly good at growing begonias in pots – and always encouraged the birds to visit. She had many stories about Billy, her favourite blackbird, who was distinctive as he had some white feathers, and who would visit frequently – not surprising given the amount of currants she would put out for him. She also loved to see foxes in her garden, who would be given the occasional meal of chicken, and then reward her by stealing her shoes! She was always happy to see the parakeets who flew noisily over her garden occasionally, sometimes stopping for a quick snack.


Over the years strong friendships developed with her neighbours, whose support she was to appreciate later on in life when she became more frail. At one time she went with lots of Veda Road residents to Bulgaria for a wedding and had a great time – dancing again featuring as a highlight of the trip. She would often say how she used to love to dance and enjoyed many a dinner-dance with Sam over the years.


She was delighted to become a grandparent and great grandparent and was always so proud of her family. She was very welcoming to Lynn's partner Mark who came into their lives 5 years ago – and Lynn will always remember her saying that “ Mark has let the sunshine in again” - a lovely thing to say, and very perceptive.


She had strong views and wasn't reticent in expressing them, which made for some interesting and lively debates, but always at heart she was a warm and generous person, and always enjoyed a good laugh.


Her last years were not so happy due to her increasing confusion and frailty but even in St Peters when Lynn visited her a week or so before she died she was still seen sharing a joke with the carers

Lynn Jordan