Thanksgiving for midwife who put others first

May 12 2009 By Mark Goode

Wendy Howells

TRIBUTES have been paid to a midwife who delivered more than 1,000 babies in Spelthorne and even wrote the book on the subject.

The life of Wendy Howells, who died on April 23, was celebrated in a thanksgiving service on Monday (May 11) at the Salvation Army Centre in Woodthorpe Road, Ashford.

Wendy, who died of a pulmonary embolism, had been a midwife in the Staines, Stanwell, and Ashford area from 1959 to the late 90s, and wrote a book called Loose Chippings in 1999, which was a collection of personal anecdotes on the humorous side of midwifery.

Friend and fellow midwife June Young, 83, said Wendy helped care for sick and troubled people at the Woodthorpe Road home too.

She added: "I will miss her company. We shared everything and never did anything alone. Through our time here we saw big changes and Wendy just felt like she wanted to help the young people.

"She wanted them to have a home, and we took a lot of people in such as troubled youths and drug addicts. "We never advertised it, but our pastor used to ask us if we could help certain people and we did."

June first met Wendy 50 years ago at a hospital in Hackney, when she became Wendy's student. They moved to Ashford and began living together as was the norm for students and mentors to do then.

By 1967 Wendy had performed more than 1000 deliveries in homes in the area, as it was customary for the doctor to be called out only in an emergency.

When Wendy retired she kept herself busy by joining the local Salvation Army branch, and engaging in public speaking in the area.

John Howells, Wendy's younger brother, said: "She was a wonderful older sister to have. She was very talented and a good Christian example to me and will be sorely missed, but she had great pain in her life before she died.

"For the last few years of her life she found it difficult to walk, but she was a strong Christian so I believe it must have been a relief when she passed."