1926 – 2009
Dad and mum were my inspiration for reading and writing science fiction. Mum registered me for the Children’s science fiction book club when I was four, and dad was a scifi mag cover artist – as I mention with an illustration in the previous post.
Seems weird that last week after moving to Peebles, dad only complained of his left leg swelling. Their carpet fitter used his van as an ambulance to take them to Hay Lodge Hospital and then a real ambulance to Borders General in Melrose. While he slipped in and out of consciousness I read to him his favourite Omar Khayyam verses along with For A That by Robbie Burns. Sadly, his renal cancer, which we thought was radiotreated from him last year had returned along with a minor heart attack. He died peacefully on the 8th June – two days ago.
I present the last photo to be taken of him – the day he moved in to Peebles just over a week ago. And one of him and mum taken whebefore they sparked my existence.
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- William Christopher Nelder
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- William and Joan Nelder in 1944
My mother died in 1983 but dad married again to Rosemary, who remains in Peebles and hopefully coping well and making new friends. I have a sister, Linda, living in Cheltenham, where the family were brought up after a spell in post-war Germany.
