For more than 40 years, Jan Derry devoted her life to nurturing young minds.
Whether she was in the classroom, with her family at the weekend, or even on her honeymoon, Jan was always thinking of ways she could enrich her students’ lives and inspire them to love learning as much as she did herself.
“The word dedication really can’t be overused when it comes to Jan,” said her husband, Craig.
Jan – for she was always Jan, never Janet – arrived in the world on October 10, 1959, to parents Albert and Betty Cudmore.
She and her brother, Brian, grew up in Layer de la Hay in Colchester.
Jan was always a keen student, passing the 11-plus and going on to complete A-levels at the Sir Charles Lucas School, now Colchester Academy.
As an adult, she would work hard to pass these skills on to young people all around Suffolk and Essex.
After leaving school, Jan studied to become a teacher at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. She would devote herself to her students for the next 40 years.
After her first few initial placements, including one at her old primary school in Layer de la Haye, Jan took up her first full-time teaching post in Capel St Mary.
From there, she moved to St Mary’s in Woodbridge and then to Morland Church of England Primary School in Ipswich, which is where she was teaching when she first ‘met’ Craig.
The pair had both joined a pen friend club, hoping to make like-minded friends.
They would exchange letters twice weekly, until Craig made the journey from Newcastle to Ipswich to finally meet Jan in person.
Romance soon blossomed. Every fortnight for the next three years, Craig would travel down to Suffolk every Friday to spend the weekend with Jan.
The time in between visits would crawl by, and the couple still wrote to each other twice every week.
Finally, in April 1997, they said ‘I do’ under a cloudless sky in Saint Lucia.
“We got married in sandals,” remembered Craig. “It was our day; we woke up, played table tennis, did a treasure hunt at the resort. I went for a swim in the sea while Jan relaxed for a while. We both got ready and met at the gazebo.
“Our lives started from there.”
Even on her honeymoon, Jan was thinking of the 30 or so youngsters waiting for her in Suffolk. Craig was bemused to notice his bride collecting small trinkets, handmade toys, and armfuls of local newspapers to take back home – until Jan told him of her plans to teach a project on Saint Lucia that term.
The couple’s son, Alex, arrived in September 1998. When it was time for Jan to return to work, she searched high and low for a childminder with little success, until she came across Linda, whose children she had taught several years previously.
Throughout her life, Jan was fondly remembered by the people she had met.
“She was very much someone who valued friendships and treasured them,” said Craig. “She always made the time to keep in contact with all of those people from her past, to keep those links.”
The proof of this came every December, when Jan would spend at least two weeks busily writing her Christmas cards, including to her colleagues and the children in her class.
Alex soon transferred to Somersham too, but Jan was clear that there was to be no favouritism; at school she was always Mrs Derry.
As a mum, Jan always encouraged Alex in his interests and enjoyed coming up with fun ways to help him to learn. Alex remembers the coach trip to Germany they went on together one October half term, spending the week travelling along the Rhine, soaking up German culture and enjoying each other’s company.
Jan was also a talented musician, playing the clarinet, piano and the guitar. Her main passion was the accordion, and she loved to play with Jenny’s Accordion Band in Colchester, and at harvest festivals.
Jan was passionate about giving the children she taught opportunities and offering them new experiences. At Morland, she and another teacher had devised an after school folk dancing club.
The club proved popular, and the children were told that those with the best behaviour would be taken to competitions around Suffolk.
“Other schools would arrive with maybe five children – and then Morland would arrive with a whole coach load!” laughed Alex.
Jan had planned to retire from teaching at the end of the year. Although she had been feeling unwell, Jan was scrupulous about finishing the summer term and wishing her children the best for the new academic year.
A few days later, Jan attended a doctor’s appointment. Here, she was given the news that she had multiple tumours all over her liver.
“That was how much the job meant to her,” said Craig. “Even when she was clearly in pain, she would still put the job and the children before herself.
“She wanted to say goodbye to the children, see them move on.”
Jan died on August 29, aged 65. She is survived by Craig and Alex, her mother Betty and her brother, Brian.
If you would like to leave a tribute to Jan, visit her memorial page by clicking here
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