Maureen (Mo) Easton
1945 - 01-10-2024
Mo was born in Weston-super-Mare. At a very early age, she was adopted by René and Phil Easton. They took her to Hong Kong where she spent the early years of her life. As with Phil (who represented the British Army in gymnastics), Mo enjoyed being fit and active. Returning to the U.K., Mo and her family settled in Gretton: overlooking the Welland valley in Northamptonshire. It was at the age of twelve or thirteen that Mo – a grammar-school pupil – came to church bell ringing: a passion that stayed with her for the rest of her life. She learned to ring at Gretton; and joined the Peterborough Diocesan Guild (PDG) in 1961.
At eighteen, Mo met and married Terry. They had two children: a son and a daughter. Mo trained to become a primary-school teacher and, for a while, had to juggle the demands of teaching and of being a homemaker with two small children. The family moved to Corby and, in 1974, to Desborough: with Mo successively occupying teaching posts at Corby School and Rothwell Primary School. Fellow bellringers at St. Giles, Desborough, found her to be good company and enjoyed her positivity. For a while, she was Desborough’s Captain. Mo rang her first peal (seven minor methods) at Glaston, Rutland, in 1975.
Mo’s subsequent posting - to be Headmistress of Naseby Primary School – was one that generated much positive feedback: as was apparent to her family members when, many years later, she made a return visit. Mo gained an MBA, and – in 1995 – an Economics ‘A’ Level. She married a second time but this marriage was not to last. Meanwhile, she increased her count of peals rung until she had scored 23 in all: these included several Surprise and Delight Major methods; Stedman Triples; and Grandsire Caters. A particularly happy memory that Northamptonshire ringers hold is that both Mo and her daughter Tania played in a handbell tune-ringing team along with Delia and Roger Smith and Mary and Murray Coleman.
After the marriage breakup, Mo moved away from her latest Northamptonshire home (in Northampton town itself) to a cottage in Hertfordshire: and took a teaching post in Cheshunt. However, with René and Phil now frail and elderly, she took the decision to retire and move back to Northamptonshire. Active in the PDG again, she was elected Chairman of the Kettering Branch at the beginning of 2013.
Here, events took a wonderful turn. Later that year – and in fact while she was on crutches following hip surgery - Mo met David at Joules Yard in Market Harborough, and they immediately took to one another. They made a home together: and travels with David took her further afield. In another remarkable twist, researches by her son Alex revealed that her biological family was living in Australia. Mo travelled to meet her natural father and her nine natural brothers and sisters. She held the position of Kettering Branch Chairman until ill-health forced her retirement nine years later. She leaves behind a devoted family.
Author: Nick Watts
