Pansy Lennon

Pansy, who died in December aged 95, may have been Jericho’s oldest resident. She was actually born in Taunton where her mother was on holiday but as a baby returned to find that her first home was to be 15 Cranham Street. One of five sisters, she went to school at St Dennis’s in Winchester Road and worked first in a glue factory and later, during World War II, at Lucy’s. Pansy married Joe Lennon in 1952, a builder, who worked, among other things on the Radcliffe Infirmary. They lived briefly in Walton Crescent, before moving to Victor Street where they were to live for the rest of their lives. In 1954 Pansy gave birth to her daughter Sue, who is now the administrator of the Community Centre. One story Pansy liked to tell was when as a young girl in Cranham Street, she was apprehended by the police for draining used bottles outside the Radcliffe Arms. For much of her life Pansy was a domestic helper and will be familiar to many residents, always well made-up and wearing her trademark stiletto heels – which she wore until the age of 77. Joe died in 1994 and shortly afterwards Pansy was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s which ultimately reduced her to silence in a wheelchair. You may have seen Pansy being wheeled around Jericho by Sue Pead or husband Cyril Pead who nursed Pansy selflessly until her death.