Mrs. Ethne Spence Jones (née West) died peacefully at her home in Warren Road, Ickenham, Uxbridge on December 21, 2020. Wife of the late Dr. William (Liam) Jones, beloved mother to Kerry, Patrick, Victoria, and Melanie, and adored grandmother of sixteen. She was the last surviving member of the West family from Mullaghmeen, Ballinamallard, sister to Harry, Ruby (Ferguson), Mary (Moore), Joan (Gaw) and Noelle (Cooper).

Born on July 7, 1926 to parents William and Harriet West, Ethne grew up with her five siblings in Mullaghmeen, Ballinamallard. She fondly told great stories of the fun they had growing up in rural Fermanagh and, during the war, of how they had tennis tournaments, parties and generally socialised with the young servicemen who flew their flying boats out of Lough Erne.

While the expectation might have been for a young woman of her background to marry and settle down to a comfortable domestic life in and around Enniskillen, Ethne never felt constrained by convention or the boundaries set by others’ expectations of her. Having achieved the highest marks in Mathematics in Northern Ireland in her Highers, she set off to Queen's University on a scholarship and with her possessions tied up in a travel rug. Not content with attending just one university, she went on to Edinburgh and Trinity College Dublin before starting her career as a psychiatric social worker in Northern Ireland.

During this period of her life, Ethne lived a happy, care free existence. She was always laughing and having fun whilst surrounded by her friends and family.

Ethne married Liam Jones, who was a Surgeon Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Liam was also a very successful swimmer. He specialised in the 100m Freestyle and was selected in 1948 to swim for Ireland in the Olympics in London along with teammates Eddie Heron, Square McCarthy, Liam Jones and Stuart Cram, winning his first Irish Championships for Sandycove Swimming Club in 1949.

Earlier in his career Liam was a GP in Irvinestown in the late 1950s just before Dr. Billy Kyle came to the practice. During this time Liam and Ethne lived at 15 Burfitt’s Hill.

After they married, the couple moved to Portsmouth where Liam was stationed. They had their first child Kerry, who was followed two years later by twins Tory and Patrick and 18 months later by Melanie.

The family later moved to Uxbridge. Liam worked in general practice in Hillingdon and the family lived in a house on Warren Road, Ickenham where they had three dogs.

After only seven years of marriage, Liam succumbed to his third heart attack and died at the age of 31, leaving Ethne with four children under the age of five.

Supported by family and friends, Ethne overcame massive challenges, showing huge courage and true Fermanagh grit.

She had many qualities: courage, determination, independence, fierce loyalty and a free and irrepressible spirit - and an unconditional love for her family- but of all her many qualities, it was her empathy for others that stood her apart and made her such a great mother, grandmother, friend and an outstanding psychiatric social worker. She always saw the point of view of others. She was non-judgmental and was always both compassionate and charitable.

This compassionate and empathetic nature was evident when she would visit her elder sister Ruby at Millcroft Nursing Home during her trips back to Fermanagh. She would spend time singing and doing crosswords with other residents, as she always wanted to involve everyone in what she was doing.

Ethne had been in relatively good health until a few months before her death. In July 2020, with a glass of Guinness in shaky hand, she was holding forth in Nancy’s in Ardara and on the previous New Year’s Eve at midnight, with a big smile on her face she was the centre of attention in her wheel chair on the dance floor at Annora’s in Portnoo. She had an enduring love for Donegal and especially shopping trips to Campbell's in Ardara where her purchases were greatly admired in London.

Ethne refused to be left out of anything and liked nothing better than being in the centre of all that was going on. Even well into her nineties, Ethne and her partner in crime, Jill her live in carer, would pack up her wheel chair (and with her medicinal bottle of whiskey) and Thelma and Louise-like, they would head off on road trips from London across Ulster, usually joining her family in Portnoo.

Ethne was a strikingly beautiful woman, with an immense sense of style. She was engaging and despite her diminutive size she was resilient and a stridently purposeful and independent woman. Her life story illustrates how she overcame tragedy, and was a role model to her family, leaving a legacy of love and compassion.