Agnes Irene Clark (21 Jun 1917 - 14 Jan 2019)

In loving memory of our much loved mother, grandma and all round wonderful lady, Agnes Irene Clark who sadly passed away on 14th January 2019 aged 101 years. Irene was born to Albert and Edith Harwood in the Warwickshire town of Sutton Coldfield, on Thursday 21st June 1917.

She was one of five children, Ernest, twins George and Joyce, and her little brother, John. They called her Re and this name all of the family and friends knew her by. With Irene’s passing, the generation of the family has come to an end.

She attended Boldmere School in Sutton Coldfield before going on to secretarial college. Irene did not relish the idea of being a typist or for learning shorthand. She set her heart on becoming a dress designer and couturier. She took a course in dress making, found a position in the work room of a Birmingham fashion house owned by the mother of a close friend of hers and learned her trade.

She met her future husband, Ronald (Ron) Highton in a coffee shop in 1936 when she was just 19. They married at Emmanuel Church in Sutton Coldfield on Saturday 23rd July 1938. Irene was 21.

She and Ron had the first of three children: Jenette. Sadly, Jenette passed away after just a couple of months of life.

In 1938 Irene set up her own dress studio. A little over a year later, Britain was at war with Germany for the second time in Irene’s lifetime.

Anxious to “do her bit”, Irene volunteered to go and work for the engineering giant, Vickers Armstrong, then of course concentrating on war production.

She made herself a trouser suit as being the most practical attire to do her work. She evidently looked very good in it however, as she often spoke about how the men in the factory used to wolf whistle at her as she walked past.

Later in the war, she also became a Red Cross nurse.

Also later in the war in 1943, she and Ron had a house at 155 Birmingham Road in the Wylde Green district of Sutton Coldfield, and they took in lodgers, probably men billeted by the war authorities. Certainly many of them remained anonymous and seemed to be rather mysterious.

After the war, the couple moved to Leicester, to the first of three addresses that they had in that city. There Irene and Ron had their son David and daughter Marie. Through them Irene had three grandchildren in James, David and Claire.

Irene went back into dress making and haute couture and had her own studio in Humberstone Road. Leicester Amongst her clients was the 1950s radio and television personality, Lady Isobel Barnett.Even when she gave up the studio, Irene continued her professional skills, taking commissions and working from home.

In 1967, her husband Ron passed away. They had been married for 29 years.

She had always enjoyed politics, and was an active member of the Conservative Party, volunteering as a party worker for election and attending the Party’s Annual Conferences. David has fond memories of his mum and her friend, Claudia Moring going off to Party meetings in Claudia’s Triumph Herald convertible with the top down, their hair blowing in the wind.

Irene became involved in numerous committees in the following years, both in Leicester and in Lincolnshire, including mental health charity MIND, Skegness and District Organ Society and the Civil Service Motoring Association. Irene also chaired a number of committees.

Both Irene and Ron had held a great fondness for Lincolnshire. With Ron’s passing, Irene moved to Lincolnshire to spend the rest of her life initially to Sutton on Sea, moving a couple of years later into Parson’s Lane in Alford.

In Lincolnhsire Irene found employment, at first managing Pete Riche’s gift shop in Mablethorpe, before then taking over as the manageress of Mrs Hartley’s dress shop, The Fashion House, here in Alford.

She found happiness again, meeting Don Clark. . They married in Spilsby Registry Office on 18th December 1976.
Through Don, she gained her step daughter Lindsay, two step grandchildren in Andrew and Kate, and two step great grandchildren in Beth and Kyle, completing her family. She and Don were very happy together until he passed away in 2008.

They were both very active in the CSMA, the Civil Service Motoring Association. It was a big part of their life together.
She also took a keen interest in local life in Alford, serving for many years as a Governor at Alford Primary school.

After Don’s passing, now aged 90, Irene continued to live alone in Parsons Lane until she suffered a slight stroke in October 2015. Following six weks in Pilgrim Hospital, it was felt appropriate for Irene to become a resident in the Apex Care Home in Mablethorpe so she could receive the care and support she needed.

Irene celebrated her 100th birthday on 21st June 2017, receiving a telegram of congratulations from Her Majesty the Queen.

She passed away in Apex on 14th January, having attained the magnificent age of 101 and a half.