Tove Ruth Robson

Tove Ruth Robson, nee Lee, was born in London on 20 October 1937, within hearing distance of Bow Bells, making her a true Cockney Londoner. In her childhood she lived in the Burnt Oak area of North London with her parents Bill and Grace and all were regular attenders of Edgware Quaker Meeting. She distinctly remembers the Second World War, with air raid shelters, sirens and rationing in place and her father working as a Fire Watcher for St. Paul’s Cathedral. She was signed up to be evacuated to Canada by ship, but her mother changed her mind at the last minute, which was the greatest of blessings, as that boat was torpedoed, and all souls lost. Family holidays were spent with her extended Back family in Leigh on Sea and often visiting Ilfracombe. She attended South Hampstead High School, where many lifelong friendships were formed and was very active in London Young Quaker groups, where she similarly made a wide circle of long-lasting friendships, including meeting her future husband, Peter. She began training as a physiotherapist but had to leave her studies before completion due to a deterioration in her health, with rheumatoid arthritis being a lifelong struggle for her. She then briefly worked in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in the Transport and Appliance Department, before her marriage to Peter and move to Yorkshire, where she worked as a Post Office Counter Assistant until she reluctantly had to give that up due to her health condition. In her teens and twenties she enjoyed adventurous travel, including rail trips around Europe with a good friend and meeting up with Peter in Venice. After her wedding to Peter in June 1970, she moved to Scarborough, North Yorkshire and soon settled at Scalby Nabs, at the Robson family home. She became very active in the local branch of the Save the Children Fund, as well as the Scalby Village Trust, Local Archaeological Society and the United Nations Association. She was also extremely active in the local and area Quaker community, taking on many roles over the years and making many deep friendships along the way. Her daughter Sophia was born in 1974 and Ruth was extremely proud to see her grow and flourish into a young woman with many similar and shared interests. They shared a love for the environment, indigenous and human rights and shared spiritual insights from a variety of sources too. She was present at Sophia's undergraduate graduation in Modern Languages and postgraduate graduation in Disasters, Adaptation and Development and was hugely proud to see her daughter's career progress in her chosen field, as she took on a variety of humanitarian roles in London and then in South America. She travelled extensively with Peter and Sophia, visiting Spain, Bulgaria and Rumania frequently for family holidays in Sophia's youth. Subsequent trips included visiting Sophia in various places where she lived, including Munich, Salamanca, Leon, New York and London. Peter and Ruth travelled frequently together too, making extended trips to visit friends and family in Canada, US, New Zealand and Australia. They also had a lovely tour of Ireland and Alaska as family holidays when Sophia was an adult. Her health deteriorated over the years, as did her mobility. In recent times she was only able to get out and about with the help of a wheelchair, but still managed to be adventurous in these final years, with Peter throwing the wheelchair in the back of the car and them taking extended road trips around the UK, taking in the far north of Scotland, as well as Cornwall and Wales and visiting as many friends as possible along the way. With a number of health conditions, her mobility was even further reduced in the last few years, but she did enjoy many visits from family and friends to their home in Scarborough, including Sophia's beloved godson Taylan, who adored her and many nephews, nieces and great nephews and nieces too. Sadly the plans for a large Golden Wedding Celebration event were not able to go ahead, due to the Coronavirus outbreak, but she was very glad to be able to welcome Sophia home in November 2020, when the borders opened in Peru to allow her to travel home. Sophia was able to spend these final 6 months with both her parents and help care for them during this time. Ruth was over the moon to hear of Sophia's next job posting, which will be that of a specialist in her chosen field, working for a large international NGO based in Panama, which will be starting soon. Her end of life deterioration began only a month or so ago, in recent weeks she was hospitalized with a suspected infection, but tests identified stage four pancreatic cancer with liver secondaries, which was extremely fast moving. Following her wishes she was discharged to palliative care at home and spent her final few days there being cared for by Peter, Sophia and the St. Catherine’s Hospice home care team. She passed away on Saturday 15 May 2021, holding Peter and Sophia’s hands and surrounded by love and light. As per her wishes, she will have a natural burial, at the Wildflower Meadow at Woodlands Cemetery in Scarborough. She has requested that no flowers or cards be sent, but if people wish to donate in her memory her favoured charity for this purpose is Survival International, which supports indigenous rights of peoples around the world. Alternatively, she also expressed an interest in an area of native woodland being planted in her name. We have found a local project to do just this via the local council here in her adopted hometown of Scarborough. Donations to the creation of an area of native woodland in her name can be made here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/native-woodland-tove-ruth-robson and donations to Survival International can be made here https://donate.survivalinternational.org/ The memorial and burial will be held in the coming days, but due to coronavirus restrictions, they will be family only events. However, the memorial service will be live streamed for those who wish to attend remotely, and we will hope to hold a larger memorial service when coronavirus restrictions are completely lifted.