Evelyn Jean Winifred Carver (3 May 1938 - 13 Dec 2025)

Evelyn Jean Simpson was born in 1938 to Freda and Thomas Simpson. She always disliked the name Evelyn and insisted on being known as Jean, much to her mother’s dismay. Mischievous and spirited, Jean loved retelling childhood tales of skipping school and ruining her new pink dress playing in coal. Her early life was marked by loss when her father died young, but happiness returned when her mother married Ken, whom Jean adored, and with the arrival of her stepbrother Terry in 1950.

Jean’s great passion was ballroom dancing, which led her in 1954 to meet David Carver at her local dance school. Their partnership on the dance floor quickly became a lifelong romance, and they married on 15 December 1956 at St Barnabas Cathedral in Nottingham, when Jean was just 18. Their marriage spanned more than 60 years and was filled with shared interests: dancing, art, gardening, electronics (including Jean famously beating David in an electronics exam), and a deep fascination with the Titanic. They never missed Strictly Come Dancing, lovingly recording every episode, and enjoyed many holidays in Southampton, even spending time aboard the Queen Mary II.

Jean was a talented seamstress through her work at Joyella in Nottingham and devoted much of her later life to caring for David during his illness, before his death in 2017. Afterward, with the support of family, she bravely moved to a new home, gained renewed independence, and formed many new friendships. Ever caring and loyal, Jean remained close to her extended family, supporting loved ones through illness and loss, and building lasting bonds right to the end of her life.