Friends
Patricia Olsen
The early days of Eric Hawkins as Headmaster of Calday Grange Grammar School was a memorable time in my family - my father, George Eustance, taught Art at the school, and my stepmother, Dorothy Kirkbride, had been the school Secretary for the first years after his arrival.
My parents welcomed the new Headmaster's enthusiasm, vitality and new ideas, and valued the friendship with Eric and Ellen Hawkins, which lasted until the death of my step-mother in 2002.
I have my own reason to be thankful that our paths crossed - on a summer evening in 1961, during a visit from the staff of the Goethe Gymnasium in Frankfurt, Eric introduced my parents and me to the German Headmaster and his wife, Dr. and Frau Fischer-Wollpert. This meeting prompted their daughter, Ulli, to visit our home, and was the start of a friendship that continues to this day.
Strangely, a late night chat between the two Headmasters revealed that they had both fought in North Africa, at the same time, in the same place....could one have been firing on the other?! They were both amused at this coincidence, and their great friendship continued for many years.
I last met Eric when he came to my father's funeral in Kendal, in 1998. I was impressed by his continuing energy and zest for living, coping with motorway driving to make the day trip for the funeral.
In 2000, Eric sent a copy of "Listening to Lorca", to my step-mother, with a kind, personal inscription. I have this book still, and treasure it as a reminder of the brilliant, sincere, innovative and special person that was Eric Hawkins.