Geoffrey Michael Vivian-Smith (10 Mar 1944 - 13 Aug 2019)

In loving memory of Geoffrey Michael Vivian-Smith who sadly passed away on 13th August 2019.
Geoff was my husband for 39 very happy years, a father to David, his son from a previous marriage who we lost contact with many years ago, a son-in-law, a brother, a brother-in-law, uncle, great uncle and great great uncle.
He was a very quiet private man who few people really got to know but to me & people who did know him, he was a kind, caring person with a great sense of humour.
Geoff was born in 1944, the youngest of 5 children & by his own admission, was very spoilt by his older siblings & managed to get away with all sorts of things. He had a happy childhood & enjoyed playing many sports & in his twenties took up karate.
Growing up in the 50s & 60s, he developed a love of music, especially rock ‘n’ roll and most weekends he would be found at the Wimbledon Palais – a local music & dance hall. This was where all the top groups & big stars of the day could be found. Among the people he saw there were The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Billy Fury, Adam Faith, Joe Brown, Marty Wilde and many more. Geoff’s claim to fame was becoming the Wimbledon Palais “Twist” Dance Champion of 1962. Geoff’s passion for music continued throughout his life with Elvis Presley being his favourite by far. Our collection also has music from the 1920s, 30s & 40s although he was only allowed to play these when I was out of the house.
I met Geoff in the late 70s when we worked for the same company in Morden, Surrey. We married in 1980 & due to job relocation, moved to Wiltshire in 1982. After redundancy in 1987, Geoff joined Royal Mail and started a new career as a postman. After several promotions, he retired in 2004 age 60 having become the Delivery Office Manager for Royal Wootton Bassett.
After his retirement, we decided to move one final time and at the beginning of 2005, we moved to Boston. Geoff settled in straight away as he loved the surrounding countryside & wildlife and had a new garden to plan, which over the years has changed many times. Geoff loved gardening but due to ill health over recent years, he wasn’t able to do as much as he would have liked, so we had an arrangement where he would tell me what needed to be done and I became his apprentice gardener.
It was very hard to choose the funeral music as Geoff liked so many different artists. I’ve chosen Elvis because in Geoff’s eyes he was the King. Joe Brown because he grew up listening to his music and we’ve seen him many times at the Embassy in Skegness. Lonnie Donegan who again Geoff grew up with and who he saw playing many times in the 50s & 60s, and Acker Bilk's Stranger on the shore, just because it’s a lovely piece of music.