Mary King (née Wilton) was born in Lowestoft on 11th November 1931 and spent her early childhood in wartime in the town which was heavily bombed; she slept in an underground Anderson shelter. Nearby houses were bombed and fields set on fire. One day the street near her house was machine gunned as a German plane, leaving under the radar, used up his bullets. Finally, her family rented a small cottage in Kessingland which was much quieter. She attended the local school where all ages were in one big class. She did very well and passed the scholarship getting the highest mark. Mary then went to Sir John Leman School in Beccles living with her aunt Ida and cousin Colleen who became like a sister to her.
She attended Lowestoft Grammar School when it returned from evacuation to Derbyshire, passing her matriculation exam at 15. From school she joined the staff at the local library (reported to have the best-looking staff!) and there began a happy career. She worked in all departments and finally went to the London Polytechnic to pass her library exam. It was the Coronation Year - a good time to see all the celebrations - and she stood in her red, white, and blue ankle socks to watch the coronation parade in the pouring rain in the Haymarket.
Mary passed her exams and returned to work in Lowestoft library before moving on to Norfolk County Library as a fully qualified librarian, trained to work in all departments. Her first post as a branch librarian was at Thetford and Watton.
In March 1957 Mary married John Miller (a fellow pupil at Lowestoft Grammar School) but as the East Suffolk libraries did not approve of married staff she moved to work at RAF Bentwaters as a Junior School librarian; it was a super job as the social side was terrific! Unfortunately, as only Americans were finally employed Mary then moved to become the first mobile librarian in East Suffolk; she really loved it for it covered all the Snape and Aldeburgh area. She also had a special dispensation and was allowed to wear trousers to work – how times have changed!
When her marriage to John broke down Mary moved back to Diss, where she met Peter King, and they married in March 1976; she moved to Walberswick and together they ran the Potter’s Wheel for many happy years; Mary was in charge of the tearoom and said at the time she had never worked so hard but loved it.
Mary and Peter finally retired in 1987, but sadly very soon after moving to Dutch House Peter was diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease and died four years later on Christmas day 1991. Mary was an extremely active fundraiser for the MNDA charity, holding annual Summer Garden parties at Dutch House and over the years collected hundreds of hagstones on the beach, which she then placed around the village with collecting tins for donations to the charity. She also kept busy helping with the Village Fete Raffles, second-hand book sales and organising flowers for the church.
Mary was fortunate to find companionship in more recent years with fellow villager Grahame Godsmark, and together they shared their love of books and crosswords, holidays in Norfolk, and walking Mary’s Vizsla dogs, Mischa, then Woody and Isla and finally Maisie along the beach in their beloved Walberswick.
Mary will be greatly missed by her nephews, Nicholas and Adam, and her niece, Samantha.
Samantha Johns and Nick Wilton (with quotes taken from notes left by Mary).