Geoffrey Patrick (OW 1949)

MCS was informed by his nephew Mike that Geoffrey Patrick had sadly passed away in February 2017. Mike shared the following words with the School:

Geoff grew up on the then new, Gipsy Lane Estate in the 1930s, attending East Oxford Primary School. In 1941, aged 10, he followed his elder brother John to MCS on a scholarship. Mr Lamborn, the inspirational Head at East Oxford, generously paid for his first MCS uniform.

He showed early talent, as recorded by his reports for the period. He was first overall many times, and in individual subjects as diverse as French, Maths and Science on a number of occasions. But his lifelong passion was for languages and literature. In 1949 he won a scholarship to read modern languages at St John’s College, Oxford. He later recalled the interview panel including CS Lewis. He graduated from Oxford in 1953, having had to take two terms off to overcome tuberculosis, for which effective treatment had only recently become available.

After Oxford, Geoff’s early appointments were at Reading, then Nottingham Public Libraries. In 1961 he moved to Nottingham University Library, where he worked until taking early retirement in 1985. It was a career which he described as being, “a quiet occupation suitable for a retiring person with a love of books and a horror of formality, public speaking and cocktail parties“. About computerization, that was beginning to transform libraries at the time, he noted, “It is a worthy tool one is happy to see others engaged in”.

Geoff married his wife Margaret in 1968. They had two children, Nicola and Stephen,and it was to family life that he was devoted. On Geoff’s retirement, Margaret became the main bread winner, having graduated as a mature student whilst bringing up the family, then going to work for Nottinghamshire Social Services. Sadly, she died of cancer in 2006, at only 68. Geoff continued to live in the family home for several years, but later moved into sheltered accommodation after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

A modest man of many talents, one of his projects, with a cousin, was to write a scholarly 200 page history of the family since the 1600s. Following his death, an extensive collection of his poetry was discovered. He had written this over many years, much as others would keep a diary. It included many humorous observations about family members.

Geoff passed away in February 2017 aged 85, following complications arising from his dementia. He is succeeded by his two children and three grandchildren.