David John Wissett

David John Wissett, (Mac’s, 1953-1958)

The following eulogy was kindly sent to us by David’s son, John. 

 

An incredibly down to earth man, David was also very friendly, chatty and sociable. Known by many in Henley, he was perhaps never happier than when with a pint of Brakspear’s ale in his hand – in a dimpled jug with a handle – chatting with friends and family. An honest, hands-on kind of man, who didn’t suffer fools gladly, he was also a man with proper principles and what nowadays might be termed as old-fashioned values, but which upon closer inspection are actually lessons in how to be a decent human being. As much as he loved the pub – and his job – he was a family man at heart, not that he often expressed it – he wasn’t an overly emotional man but he loved his family – you all know that he did too.

David John Wissett was born on 13 February 1940 to John and Evelyn. One of two children, he was a little brother to Rachel. The family home was on Cumnor Hill, which until the mid 1970’s remained part of Berkshire.

Schooled at The Dragon School and St. Edwards, David’s education continued at Trinity College, Dublin where he secured a place on the 4-year Engineering Degree course. But after 3 years, David decided he’d had enough and at a loose end, he accepted an invitation from a friend to attend the flying school based at Kidlington, Oxford. He went, he flew and he fell in love. He obtained a pilot’s licence and then got his commercial stripes and searched for a job but a glut of commercial pilots had flooded the job market and no posts were available.

It was around this time that his path first crossed with the girl who was to become the love of his life. Carol, you were both teenagers when you met at the Cadena Cafe in Oxford. You courted and were married on 26 September 1964 at the Presbyterian Church in Oxford.

With no pilot positions presenting themselves, a family friend got David an engineering job, working on the construction of the Oxford Ring Road, where he not only built the bridge over the southern bypass at Botley, but he also learnt to play bridge in all the downtime (when the scraper knocked all of the levels out). But David still aspired to fly and after a number of applications, he was finally offered a pilot’s job with Barnaby Keith & Stevens in Leeds, flying Dakota’s. David accepted and went straight in as First Officer – not second (because there were only two members of crew).

About a year later David applied to BEA and was accepted and you both moved to live with your parents, so that David could commute to London Heathrow. The M40 was a motorway still in the future and it wasn’t long before David had had enough of schlepping up and down the old A40 – so you bought a house and moved to Cranford.

You became parents with the arrival of Sara in 1967.The days of Cranford came to an end with the move to St, Andrew’s Road, Henley, where John was born. In 1975, you all moved to the house in Remenham which has remained your home ever since.

Carol, all your new neighbours thought you were a divorcee with 2 young children – David was either rebuilding the house, flying (he did a lot of night flights with freight) or he was sleeping.

 

David loved flying; his favourite parts were take-off and landing; he found the 10 hours in between on long haul flights interminable and so opted to do short haul. It was work which he loved and in which he continued, until his retirement in 1995.

With his time in the skies having come to an end, David bought a narrow beam boat, a Viking and took to the water. Initially moored at Caversham Marina, then at Benson and finally outside Phyllis court, it was a boat in which many trips were enjoyed, up and down the river and then exploring the network of canals.

You will all have your own memories of David, which perhaps haven’t been mentioned, but which are nonetheless important to you.

 

Carol, I know you will never forget the scare he gave you whilst when he was flying private channel flights. It was during the Profumo Affair and he was flying a relative of Lord Astor’s over to France. As he left, he jokingly said, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be on the front page of The Express if anything happens”. You were engaged at the time and staying with your mum, who, the following morning, saw that the Daily Telegraph was reporting a plane which was missing over the channel. It was confirmed soon after that David had gone off radar. You spent all day at the airstrip in the control tower; all hands were on deck trying to work out what had happened to David, sea rescue was deployed but there was no sign. In your words “his nibs was actually floating around in the South of France”. It was thankfully later established that David was not missing but safe; he’d lost radio contact en route to the French Riviera and upon arrival had handed the radio controls to his French speaking passenger, who’d omitted to mention to French Traffic Control that they were all okay. 

Sara, you, I know, have lots of memories of happy times at the regatta; running home from school to join him. And joining him at the Wheatsheaf, his favourite haunt for a Sunday lunchtime pint, whilst your mum was preparing lunch – “Go and see your dad” she’d say.

 

And John, you remember his incredible skills – as with his own dad, who handmade model railway tracks, your dad was similarly talented – he could (and did) turn his hand to pretty much anything.

 

There will of course by a whole host of other memories too, it is futile, it’s impossible to sum up a life, a person, in the short time we have here but I feel sure you will agree with me on this… David led a good life; he was a  good man and although we are sad at his passing, we take some comfort in the fact that, when he passed away at home on Thursday 7 July, there can have been no doubt in his mind of the huge affection in which he was held and how much he was loved.

 

David is survived by his beloved wife, Carol, his 2 children and their families; Sara, you and Tim have Beckie, Zoe, Katie and Harry; John, you have Corin, Ollie and Ella. By his sister, Rachel and his sister-in-law Alison and their families.

In a few moments, it will be time to say our final farewell to David. As we prepare to do we are going to pause for a few moments to be alone with our own thoughts; it’s a space in our service where we can each recall our personal and treasured memories of him and a pause before we say goodbye. Our time for reflection will be accompanied by…The Shepherd’s Hymn from Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 – The Pastoral….

 

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