(29th September, 1927 – 4th January, 2017)
Published in Windlesora 33 (2018)
© WLHG
‘Her life was a full one. The wine of life was in her veins. Sorrows and storms were conquered by her nature’ – Winston Churchill, writing to Lord Curzon on the death of Lady Randolph
The new year of 2017 opened with immense sorrow for the family and friends of Joyce Sampson, whose unexpected death on 4 January was keenly felt over a wide area, testified by the large congregation which attended her memorial service at Clewer St Stephen Church on 23 February.
Her loss to the Windsor Local History Group of which she was a founder member and a past Chairman and Treasurer was deeply felt, and whose 2016 Christmas Lunch she had enjoyed in the best of cheery spirits barely a month earlier.
In times past, Joyce had served for many years with notable efficiency as Clerk to the Governors of both Clewer Green School and the Princess Margaret Rose School, and to the latter’s Headmistress, the legendary Hilda Jones, she proved herself a doughty and indispensable lieutenant. When her husband Sammy, a retired solicitor, shouldered the Chairmanship of the Windsor Advisory Centre, Joyce became a pillar of support.
In 1998 Joyce was invited to become a Trustee of the Royal Albert Institute Trust, which role she filled with enthusiasm and dedication. At her last Trustees’ meeting on 7 November, she promulgated her idea for a memorial for the Queen’s record as the longest ever reigning monarch and Her Majesty’s ninetieth birthday (a landmark which sadly Joyce herself was not destined to achieve). This proposal for the presentation of two seats in one or other of the Royal Borough parks for public use is likely to be adopted.
In every project which Joyce undertook, she gave of her utmost with drive and tenacity invariably using her compelling voice and engaging chuckle to secure a successful outcome. In all her many activities she was an inspired and inspiring participant; she was unfailingly kind, courteous and supportive of others. Her wisdom and knowledge as a long-term Windsor resident were much appreciated by members of the Local History Group.
Joyce Sampson will long be remembered with admiration and affection as a worthy citizen whose nobility and firmness of character could be epitomised by Peregrine Orme’ s remark to his grandfather, in Anthony Trollope’s Orly Farm: ‘What I say is this: You should never give up as long as you live. There is a sort of feeling about it which I can’t explain. One should always say to oneself, “’No surrender”‘.
John E Handcock
Windsor Local History Group 