Ken Hill (1921-2013)

The funeral was held in St Nicolas Church, on  May 9, of Ken Hill, who worked at Cranleigh School for 48 years…

The funeral was held in St Nicolas Church, on  May 9, of Ken Hill, who worked at Cranleigh School for 48 years as a laboratory technician.  He had been married in the same church 71 years previously.  He started work at the school in 1946, having been de-mobbed from the RAF, long before the term Ken Hill.News‘Laboratory Technician’ was in common use.  He was a laboratory steward, which somehow seems to sum up his dedication and caring nature more aptly.

Ken was a man of many skills, and having been brought up in the era of ‘Make Do and Mend’, was able to repair almost anything, and could make apparatus from scratch.  He was also a skilled glass-blower, and some of the equipment he made is still in use today, in its new home, the Emms Centre.

I worked closely with Ken from 1976 until his retirement at the age of 74 in 1994, and learnt a huge amount from a kind and gentle man.

Ken’s funeral was also a celebration of his life, and he was carried from the church to the strains of ‘The Dambusters’ march.  A fitting tribute, and one that he would have enjoyed.

Phil Lockhart

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