A former Oxford magistrate has died at her Boars Hill home aged 89.
Jill Thomas, the wife of late Oxford GP David Thomas, passed away last Thursday of respiratory failure. She was being treated for thyroid cancer.
Born Jill Bishop in Twickenham in 1922 she spent her early years in the UK, Gibraltar and Hong Kong as her father was a civil servant in The Admiralty.
During the Second World War she took up an administrative job in the Women’s Royal Naval Service.
She met returning soldier Mr Thomas during VE celebrations in Trafalgar Square in May 1945 and they married in 1946.
Mrs Thomas set up a nursery School and an accommodations bureau in Wimbledon while Mr Thomas studied medicine at Guys Hospital, London.
They moved to Oxford in 1959 and Mr Thomas established the Blackbird Leys Health Centre in the early 1960s.
Mrs Thomas later served as a magistrate at Oxford Magistrates’ Court.
In her 60s she obtained an Open University degree in art history and in her 70s developed an interest in astrophysics. The family moved to Foxcombe Road, Boars Hill, in 1971, becoming active members of the community and church.
Mrs Thomas, who survived her husband by 23 years, leaves seven children – Venetia Kudrle, 64, Guy Thomas, 63, Teresa Thomas, 59 , Ben Thomas, 58, Clare Spurring, 56, Gregory Thomas, 52, and Laura Ripley, 47.
She also had 18 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
The funeral takes place at St Leonard’s Church, Sunningwell, tomorrow, at 3.30pm and afterwards at Overdale, Foxcombe Road, Boars Hill.
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