Page 20 - br-nov-2018

November 2018 November 2018

OBITUARIES

Gordon Campbell

After living for 30 years in Bere Regis, Gordon Campbell died on
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Tuesday 9 October, 2018.
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His family invites you to join them in celebrating his life on Friday 9
November at the Drax Hall from 10am-noon. There will a display of
photos and memorabilia on the upper
floor. Huge thanks to Alison Bennett and
her team who have allowed us to combine
this event with the usual “Pop in Place” on
the ground floor and will be serving tea,
coffee and cake.
Gordon was an only child, cared for by his
grandmother while his mother earned the family
income going to sea as a ship’s stewardess. His
father had abandoned the family when
Gordon was 2 years old in 1924. As a child
Gordon did most of the family shopping and
took his mother’s salary (in US dollars) and went
round various banks to obtain the best
exchange rate. He also grew most of the family
food and kept pigeons and bees.
Gordon won a scholarship to go to grammar school, left after matriculation
and was initially employed as a librarian. With the outbreak of World War II he
decided to qualify as a radio officer and joined Marconi who placed him with
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different merchant navy ships, starting as 3 radio officer and progressing to 1
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radio officer before he reached the age of 21. He survived a sinking off the
coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After time on the North
Atlantic run, he was on tankers taking fuel from
refineries in Aruba to American airbases on various
islands. During this time he learnt Spanish to be able to
deal with ship’s papers in South America.

Returning to the UK in 1946 he qualified as a radio
officer for commercial aircraft. Based at Stansted he
flew with a number of companies bringing in fruit from
Europe, South Africa, transporting bullion, pilgrims and

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