David  Johnson -Jones, was born in India , as I was, and lost his father when he was 4 years old.  His mother, Amy, died when he was 10.  His mother Amy had 3 sisters Joy, Pidge and Vera, who was my mother.  After the death of his mother, Joy and my mother looked after David until Joy and Pidge died in air crash.  This left my mother and Granny  Johnson Jones to look after and care for David.  This must have been a traumatic time for him but he talked fondly of how his mother's sisters teased him but he gave it right back to them.  I am sure that you can relate to this situation as David was a great leg puller and liked to play practical jokes, all in good spirit.

 

After the Second World War, Granny Johnson Jones, David and my family moved from India to Tanzania or Tanganyika , as it was known.  David became part of the Popple family although his  Granny played a huge part in his development.

 

David soon realized that he needed to get a better education and wanted to become an architect.  He studied hard with Julius Nyerere, past President of Tanzania, helping him with his mathematics.  David entered Oxford University with a scholarship and qualified as an architect.

 

David was a great family man, caring, full of fun and laughter but serious inside that he should play a role of leader in family affairs.  He was firstly married to Cecilia who died in a car accident and they had 5 children Karen, Mark, Lynn, Mathew and Rachel. 

 

He later met Kath when she was at University and they have been happily married for 34 years.  David and Kath had 3 children Emily, Katie and young David.  David has 9 grand children who he loves dearly.  It is wonderful that David's sons and daughters are here to day to say goodbye and to give him a good send off.

 

My parents continued to live in East Africa after David left Tanzania and my brother and I were sent to school in England and we saw our parents once a year in the summer school holidays.  David became our adopted father and friend whilst we were here in England .  This was great fun as he was not too strict with us and we used to go and play darts in the local pub.  David was an accomplished darts player and soon had the locals challenging him to a darts match.  We became the focal point of the evening.  At dinner the other night, the JJ boys dared me to be more expressive about the details but I felt it was best left to your imagination.

 

David had a varied and challenging business career which was full of adventure and excitement where he met heads of state, prominent politicians and high flying business people.  He was an entrepreneur with nerves of steel but he had a strong set of values which were never compromised.  He was a man of integrity, a man of principle, a compassionate man with an amazing sense of humour.  He traveled the world and regularly talked about his experiences in the Amazon jungle, in the hills of Afghanistan, the silk trail of Uzbekistan and his time in West and East Africa.  He helped to build hospitals for Governments across the world mostly in Brazil .

 

He could be described as the Indiana Jones of health care in emerging countries like Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, Iran and Iraq and the like.

 

I will treasure the memory of David and my wife and I are so glad to be here to see him before he left us.  In the last days of his life at Dorothy House, I asked David if he would mind telling me about my family in India and could I video his story.  David being David wasmore than happy to do this.  After 2 hours of constant story telling the video tape ran out and we felt relieved because he was getting so tired.  His remarks were  “Geoff how come you run out of tape - I have not finished yet.  I replied that we should call it a day.  His response was - when I start something I want to finish it!”

 

This was the type of fellow David was - determined, task oriented and tireless until the objective at hand was completed.

 

One is often asked - what few words would you like on your burial stone when you die.  These words for me encapsulate my memories of David:

 

"A devoted husband and father, courageous to the end and a man who loved life"

 

To Kath, Mark, Lynn, Mathew, Rachel, Emily, Katie and David, thank you for allowing me to tell this short story about our dearly loved David.  It will be a highlight in my life to have said - good bye - to such a great guy.

 

Thank you

 

 

Geoff Popple