|
TED ANDREWS
(Y87)
In a desperately sad month for Dial-a-Cab, Ted Andrews (Y087) was one of
three drivers who all passed away within days of each other. Ted, who shared a
cab with son-in-law Bob Dillon, was very popular among his fellow drivers,
having been on Dial-a-Cab for well over 20 years.
He was a super-fit 69 year old who was still excited about he and
his team's recent success in winning the table tennis league championship. Ted
had been playing regular table tennis matches at league standard for over
thirty years and that was one of the reasons why he was - and always looked -
so fit.
Just as many cab drivers before him, Ted and his wife Mavis were
so proud that their son Russell had completed the Knowledge to obtain his green
badge. There are probably few feelings like the elation felt after following a
close member of the family struggling through the highways and byways of London
in front of PCO examiners and then finally succeeding and bringing home that
coveted badge. Ted was no exception - he was really chuffed!
Ted had completed a week of jury service at Snaresbrook Court
followed by a holiday and was now ready to log back on to Dial-a-Cab when
tragically, on March 23, Ted suffered two heart attacks. The first came in the
morning with a further one in the afternoon - the second one that was to
tragically take his life.
To all Ted's family including wife Mavis, son Russell and
daughter Lindsay, all at Dial-a-Cab send their condolences.
And a request to Ted from your many friends... If by chance you
meet up with former table tennis world champion Johnny Leach up there and beat
him in a game, tell him you represent Dial-a-Cab...!
|
DENNIS WILSON
(W92)
When Dennis Wilson's (W92) wife Dolly - just Doll to Dennis - came into
the lounge to give him a cup of tea, a monumental tragedy awaited her when she
found him slumped in his chair. She called immediately for medical help, but
sadly Dennis was found to be dead.
Just three weeks earlier, Dennis and Dolly had returned from their
holiday of a lifetime - six weeks in the Australian sunshine - to celebrate his
70th birthday. Not surprisingly, they both looked bronzed, fit and really well.
But looking well and being fit was nothing new to Dennis. He was a
very keen, high standard golfer who neither smoked nor drunk. In addition he
always carefully watched his diet, so his premature death was just the last
thing anyone could have expected.
"He always looked fit," Dennis's nephew and
Dial-a-Cab driver Bryan Gorin (T5) told Call Sign, "he was also a
really lovely man and it will take a long time for this tragedy to sink in. Had
he been very ill, then it might have been expected, but he was always so well.
We will miss him terribly."
Certainly those drivers that Call Sign spoke to about Dennis, all
expressed total shock and sadness at the suddenness of his death.
To Dolly as well as to Dennis's daughter Lesley, sons Gary and
Tony and all his family, Call Sign sends its condolences on behalf of everyone
connected to Dial-a-Cab, from office staff to drivers to the Board of
Management.
|
JOE HUTTON
(T43)
Monday March 25 saw the sad passing of a Dial-a-Cab driver known to
many Finsbury Square (EC5) regulars as "Irish" Joe who, next
Christmas Day, would have celebrated his 70th birthday. However, as Joe
Hutton (T43) told me and others many times - you wouldn't have known that by
looking at him as he looked at least ten years younger! Even worse, it was
true and there was no way that Joe would ever consider retiring!
He always looked healthy aside from a slight limp, so when Joe
suffered a serious heart attack that was later discovered to have destroyed
much of his heart, he put it down to indigestion. On the Saturday before he
died, Joe was sitting down watching TV after having a meal, before later
saying he didn't feel too well.
The next day Joe took a turn for the worse and daughter Jackie
called for an ambulance. Even then, Joe insisted on walking out to the
vehicle. Knowing Joe, he wouldn't have wanted to cause his wife Joyce and
the rest of the family undue concern over his condition by being carried
out.
At the hospital, a blood test confirmed the worst - Joe had
suffered a major heart attack that was much more serious that at first
envisaged, but even that didn't stop him making jokes with son-in-law Paul
about which nurse was going to fit the catheter!
Then, on the next day, Joe died, barely six weeks after his
mother Elizabeth. At his funeral, Joe's 9 year-old granddaughter read out a
poem that she had composed herself called 'My Granddad'. That alone would
have told anyone interested how much Joe Hutton was loved.
Several Dial-a-Cab drivers attended Joe's funeral after a
terminal message went out saying that Joe had died, but I can't help
wondering how many more would have been there had they realised that Joe
Hutton was really "Irish" Joe...
Call Sign, on behalf of everyone connected to Dial-a-Cab,
extends its condolences to Joe's wife Joyce and to all of his family...and
to Joe - wherever you are, mate - just tell 'em straight that you're 60!
|
