A family is remembering Margaret Slater, a former Norland nurse, farmer's wife and beloved great-grandmother, who has died aged 100.
The word which best describes their mother, said Margaret’s sons, Andrew and Adrian, is "determined". While she endured many hardships, Margaret could always see the joy to be found in life.
Margaret Chrystal, as she was then, was born in Thorpe Morieux on October 12, 1922. She was the youngest of seven children born to George and Janet, farmers who had moved to Suffolk from Scotland.
Margaret flourished at the East Anglian School for Girls in Bury St Edmunds (now part of Culford School), where she was made Head Girl.
At 18, Margaret left Suffolk for London, where she trained as Norland nurse. Nurses received a higher degree of training than nannies, and this was a position that Margaret was proud to have obtained.
She worked hard, training at St Thomas’ Hospital, and overseeing the evacuation of the sick children there to Devon and Surrey after the outbreak of World War II.
When the war had ended, Margaret took up a position as a children’s nurse to the children of Colonel Ridley in Ipswich. One of the children she cared for was Nicholas Ridley, who died in 2020, aged 82.
Upon her return to Suffolk, Margaret had reconnected with many of the friends she had known previously, many of them farmers. She made the acquaintance of John and Jean Slater, who fortuitously introduced Margert to their brother, the man who would become her husband, Don.
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Don and Margaret married in September 1948. The first made their home in Dalham, then Norfolk, before settling in Cockfield where they ran their own farm, Buttons Green Farm.
After her marriage, Margaret enthusiastically took up role of farmer’s wife. She worked with the animals and out in the fields, cooked, cleaned, and even bred poodles for a time. She also ran a bed and breakfast from the farmhouse.
Don and Margaret welcomed five children. Their eldest son, Nick, arrived in 1949; Jeremy (‘Jerry’) followed in 1951; Adrian next in 1953; before Margaret’s much longed-for daughter, Caroline, arrived in 1855. Margaret’s youngest son, Andrew, arrived in 1966.
Sadly, three of Margaret’s Nick, Jerry and Caroline have all now passed away.
Margaret and Don worked on Buttons Green Farm for 40 years, before finally retiring to Lavenham in 2000. Here, Margaret became a pillar of the community. She threw herself into church life, the Mothers’ Union and WI.
Don died in 2007. After his death, Margaret continued to live independently in their home in Lavenham. She loved the community there and prided herself on walking to the local Co-op store every day for her newspaper. She stopped doing so just three weeks before she died.
“Our mother was determined to live life to the full,” said Andrew. “Despite all the hardships she went through, she never felt sorry for herself. She would get up and grieve, but then she would get on. She felt that you had to put a brave face on and move on with life.”
Adrian agreed. “Life could have been a grim battle, and she certainly put up with a lot – but she always came through smiling.”
Margaret Slater died on Friday, April 14, aged 100.
She is survived by two of her five children, nine of her ten grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
A celebration of her life will take place on Friday, April 28 at St Peter and St Paul church in Lavenham. All who knew Margaret are welcome to attend.
To read more tributes to those we have loved and lost in Suffolk, click here.
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