30th March 2017 would have been our 60th Wedding Anniversary ..thinking of you Tommy Lee .....and thinking we had a good innings...55 years married....plus 5 years knowing and loving you before we wed.   It wasn't all easy going....Lots Of worries and bumps along the way but what a life....three beautiful daughters along the way and their lovely families.   How fortunate we were.  'Yours"..... "Till"

Another birthday passes without you Tom......81 years today. 

Tom was born on the 28th February 1936 to Ernest and Ena (Elliott)Lee in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. He has an older sister Dorothy and a younger sister Diane who died when a baby. Tom went to Holme Hill Junior School and Harold Street Boys School, both of them in Grimsby. He was a talented sportsman excelling in swimming, cricket, football and table tennis. He was popular and he used to tell me and the girls all about his exploits when young and the respect he had for his teachers. I spent many a Saturday and sometimes a Sunday in the summer watching him play cricket when we were courting and I couldn't stand the game, it shows what you'll do when you are young and foolish.

We met when I was 15 and Tom was 16 in 1951 at the YMCA on Heneage Road, Grimsby.  We courted from then until we married on the 30th March 1957. 

We spent our honeymoon in London and Jersey.  Saw two shows in London – The Boyfriend and also Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers at the Palladium.  We also saw Tom’s Dad Ted on our return to London after Jersey.  He was working in the area around Tower Bridge on pile driving construction work.

On the 8th February 1960 Tom was called to a house in Park Street, Cleethorpes on an emergency call.  Contractors had fractured a gas pipe in the road and it was leaking gas into the house.  He got the 4 occupants out of the house before it exploded, he and his apprentice were injured, he carried his apprentice to safety and then Tom collapsed and was in hospital for some time.  He was awarded the British Empire Medal for Bravery and also a commendation from The Carnegie Hero Trust Fund.  He was 23 years old.

Our first daughter Tracy Francine was born on the 30th January 1961.  We bought our first house in Waltham and then our second daughter Dianne Elizabeth was born on the 12th February 1964.  Tom was self-employed plumber and gas fitter and then our 3rd daughter Taryn Jane was born on 4th March 1968.  Shortly after this Tom decided he wanted to run a pub so he trained and then we took over the Management of The Pier Hotel (Submarine) where we put on entertainment every night of the week.  Then he decided to take over a large fish and chip restaurant along the promenade and turned it into a Night Club.  The Sands Club was born and we had some wonderful musicians to back the Cabaret Artists during this time.  He also held many Charity Nights to raise money for scooters for children with disabilities. Tom loved every minute of his time at the Sands and so did everyone who ever went there.  He was still friends with some of the acts until the day he died and Dougie James and Mia Carla were at his funeral and Talli Halliday would have been there but ill health prevented her.  He went on to taking over The Victors Club on Oxford Street, Grimsby and renamed it The Casablanca Club and again had Acts such as Ken Dodd many times, The Supremes, Bernard Manning, etc. etc He always helped with disabled folk whenever he could.  He entertained the Mini Olympics at the Casablanca on many occasions and had Pool Teams for young disabled folk.  In fact Tom reached out to everyone he was a very socialable and kind individual.

 When he retired he did voluntary work for ACE Services helping people wherever he could.

Tom and I went on some fantastic holidays when we retired.  The first in 1999 when Taryn and Andy sent us on a 28 day trip starting in Toronto, Canada taking in The Niagara Falls.  On to two weeks travelling through New England to Boston and Ending in New York.  Then we went on to Washington.  Next we went to New Orleans and then finished off in Orlando Florida and of course visited Disney and Universal.   In between this we spent time in Spain at Tracy and Neil’s villa which was up in the hills 20 minutes from Marbella.  Tom went there many times even when I didn’t, his times there were very special to him especially his ‘local’ The Cruz De Piedra in Coín.

Then in 2006 Taryn and Andy sent us on a trip to celebrate our golden wedding.  First to Los Angeles and then Hawaii on a cruise around all the Islands and finishing off in San Francisco.

In February 2009 we went to Merida in the Yukatan, Mexico at the invitation of our son-in-law Neil to celebrate his 60th birthday - all 19 of us.  We stayed in some fantastic places and a  Wonderful Time was had by one and all.

"Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the Moments that take our Breath Away"   

We also had some wonderful family holidays in Florida at Disney and Universal and saw it all again through the eyes of our grandchildren.

When we retired from the Licensed Trade we never thought we would ever have a holiday again but it just goes to show, you never know what is waiting around the corner.   

We would have been married 55 years on the 30th March 2012 and together for almost 60 years.

All told we had our ups and downs, weathered all the storms life threw at us but we remained together forever.  Tom took to cooking in later life (he didn’t know where the kettle was until then) and I enjoyed all the meals he cooked and it was wonderful to be waited on.  He told me he loved me almost every day and signed all the cards he ever sent me “Till” meaning every word of the song “Till” which he got artists who came to the Sands to sing for me.  He loved his 3 daughters with every fibre of his being and also his sons in law.  His Grandchildren were his pride and passion and he revelled in the fact that he was a Great Grandfather to Taylor and Lyla and another Great Granddaughter to be born 11th May 2012 - the delightful Elsie.

We both knew how lucky we were and loved our wonderful family and each other, what more could you ask for. 

His smiling and pleasant face is a pleasure to recall.

He had a kindly word for each and died beloved by all.

Some day we hope to meet him,

Some day we know not when.

To clasp his hand in the better land, never to part again.