Thank you for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

Jane's "Two Little Boys" have set this page up as it is the family's wish that people donate money to Leukaemia Research rather than sending any flowers to the family or funeral.

Wife, Mum, Gran, Mum-in-law, relative, friend, Mum of friend, neighbour, colleague, teacher, fellow club or committee member - however you knew Jane and in whatever way she touched your life, we would like you to help us to avoid other families and friends losing a loved one too soon in this way. Whatever amount you may choose to donate, large or small, we appreciate it.

The main photo may appear as if Jane was knowingly waving goodbye. In reality it was right at the start of her treatment when she briefly went into hospital. She asked us to take this photograph so we could show her grandchildren (who weren't allowed to visit) that she was ok and "not to worry" - little did she or any of us know. 

For those who wish to find out a little more about her life or simply recall the Jane they knew, we have put together some of our thoughts and memories.

Jane's Story (1941-2012)

Mum was born, Jane Rees, at 59 Fell Street, Treharris - her Gran's house - on 11 February 1941.

Mum's childhood home was 3 Penn Street, a small terraced house in the next street to her Gran's, in the mining village of Treharris, Merthyr Vale, South Wales. (* see Treharris' claim to fame at end of story)

Mum lived, somewhat snuggly, with her Mum, Elizabeth Ellen (formerly Williams) and her Dad, William Stanley Rees, and her three sisters Moira, Margaret and Edith. However, being at least 14 years younger than any of her sisters, she was also very close both in age and affection to her four nieces Elizabeth, Gaynor, Lynne and Marilyn, her nephew David and her cousin, also called David. Her family and Welsh roots remained hugely important to her throughout her life.

Mum went to the local Primary School in Treharris and then to Quaker's Yard Grammar School before deciding to go to Teacher Training College in Bangor, North Wales. Little did she know what a momentous decision that would turn out to be.

Whilst travelling back to college after Christmas for the second term of her first year, waiting on a cold and windy platform at Shrewsbury Station, she met her husband-to-be Don (aka Dad) who was similarly travelling back to his first year at University in Bangor. Mum made Dad, and others, laugh by getting up from her seat on the platform and trying to get on a goods train by mistake - they caught each other's eye, and that is where their "Love Story" began. Mum often told us a story from her time in Bangor and when she first saw the film "Psycho" - but we are not sure if the two are linked ;-). Bangor was also where Mum developed her love for cinema, theatre and especially musicals - apparently going to see "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at least seven times!

After college/University, Mum and Dad had to continue the next year of their relationship at long distance. Ironically, Dad had moved to Cardiff to complete his Teacher Training near where they expected Mum to be but, unfortunately, due to teacher number issues at the time, Mum's first placement was at Huntingtree Primary School in Halesowen. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder because the next year they were settled in the Midlands, married (9 March 1963) and then along came us, their two sons, Colin and Gareth.

As a mother, as you might expect from a teacher, she was a firm disciplinarian - Mum even sometimes had our friends helping with the chores around the house so that we would be allowed out to "play" quicker. But we always knew that despite all the scrapes and testing times we gave her, Mum's love was unconditional. It may not have always seemed like it at the time but there was literally nothing she would not have done for "her boys". We would blame the family cats for most of the damage and breakages in the house anyway - first Horris (as spelt by a very young Gareth and it stuck), and then Rufus Ruffcutt. Those two cats were very accident prone but, surprisingly, never while we were on Scout Camp or holiday?!!

Money was tight during Mum's childhood and also her early years of marriage. However, this gave her a very good perspectiive on what is "valuable" in life, which she made sure she instilled into us. For example, when we asked for the Adidas trainers our friends had instead of the "perfectly good ones" from Woolworths, she would say "of course you can have them - if you pay the difference" - which we often did. Paper rounds and weekend jobs at Makro taught us that things have to be earned in life.

Most of our early childhood holidays were spent somewhere in the UK and usually by the sea. Often this would be "house-sitting" for a week or so for Mum's college friend Maureen (and her husband Roy and family) at their home near Menai Bridge on the Island of Anglesey. We have fantastic memories of days on the beach (in all weathers), coastal walks, visiting castles, climbing Snowdon etc etc.

When we were 11 and 9 respectively, Mum and Dad took us on our first foreign holiday (to Spain), but it did not start well. After an overnight flight, we were told by our parents to go to bed for some rest and "to let our food go down" before we could go and play in the pool. Too excited, we took turns to quietly go out onto the balcony and look over into Mum and Dad's room next door to see if they were up and getting ready to go. The only problem was, that on one such occasion, Colin thought Gareth had left the patio door open and proceeded to walk straight into it slashing his leg wide open at the knee on the breaking glass. Mum held the gaping wound closed all the way to the hospital (via a James Bond style high speed taxi ride - much quicker than waiting for an ambulance apparently!). It was only after the medical staff had taken over and fully explained the extent of the injuries that Mum did her usual trick of fainting - once she knew she was no longer "needed". Colin was fine but had to spend the week in a wheelchair with Gareth pushing him around but, as you can imagine, "this would never have happened if you two had done what you were told" might have been mentioned once or twice (and not just on that holiday!)).

Mum and Dad had their way of running the family home which had a fair amount of role reversal from a stereotype marriage. For example, Mum handled all the financials and Dad helped a lot with things like cleaning, shopping and ironing. We always knew that Dad still ultimately wore the trousers, buut what he didn't know was that it was Mum who picked out which ones to wear and when.

We, sons, are now married and we know that despite the ups and downs and "challenges" we set her, she was immensely proud that we had "turned out alright". We each have reasonably (??) successful careers and now have of our own families. [Colin is married to Josie and they have two boys Isaac (13) and Ethan (9), and Gareth is married to Janie and they have one son, Leo (3). As you can see the Mrs J Rees Smith dynasty continues.

Mum and Dad decided to take voluntary redundancy and early retirement from teaching when they were just 52 and 53 respectively. Who can blame them when they were given a nice lump sum to leave and 5 years added to their pension entitlement by the State - and you wonder why their is a debt crisis now!! Despite our envy at almost certainly not being able to stop working that young, we are now very glad this gave Mum and Dad nearly 20 years in retirement together.

On becoming a Gran, Mum's discipline rules for children seemed, shall we say, to ease somewhat! She clearly got massive enjoyment from her grandsons and was always willing to offer "helpful advice and guidance" to us as their parents. Mum's heart was in the right place but, as those who know her well will understand, let's just say she sometimes needed reining back a little.

Once we had flown the nest, Mum and Dad could spend more time on their own interests such as gardening. Mum adored her little garden at their home and was always annoyed when we'd come round and couldn't see that see had done all the weeding. "Mum, that is because with all the plants and flowers you've packed in, we can't actually see any earth!". [We have attached before and after photos in the "gallery" section so you can see you the space was transformed and the six foot wall 'disappears' from view.

They also started a small allotment some 15 years ago after Dad's own mother passed away. This has expanded considerably over the years as Mum and Dad slowly took over several neighbouring plots as and when they became available. Naturally, Mum was the "Head Gardener", doing the planning and organising, and Dad was the "Hired Help". You could say that Mum/Jane, the avid gardener has been busy planting memories that are "perennials" in all our lives.

Tennis was also one of Mum's (and Dad's) great passions, rumoured to have started from a penchant for John Newcombe's legs (that's a name for the older readers!). Our usual childhood evening meal deteriorated drastically during late June/early July - unless it was raining in London SW19! Indeed, when Gareth and Janie announced the intended date for their wedding, Mum said "you do realise that is during Wimbledon fortnight?" as if it was outrageous to have even considered such a thing. Reluctantly, she did eventually agree to attend.

In 2007, Gareth was lucky enough to get some tickets from his boss at work when he was unable to use them himself. "I know someone who would love them" said Gareth and off Mum and Dad went. Well due to rain delays that summer, matches were backed up so what should have been Ladies semi-finals day was actually delayed men's quarter-finals and they had great tickets for Court No 1. The first match was a young Novak Djokavic who eventually beat Marcos Baghdatis in a 5 set, 5 hour classic. After rushing out, quite exhausted themselves, to grab something to eat, they settled down for the next match - Andy Roddick against Richard Gasquet. It looked all over as Roddick raced to a 2 set lead but Gasquet had other ideas and, after another 5 set thriller, eventually won through. It was fair to say that it was dark by the time they left Wimbledon that day but what a special day they had enjoyed. So a huge thanks to Frank Mackay at KPMG for being too busy to use his tickets!! (Maybe there is a lesson there for us all?)

Whilst on the subject of sport, it would only be fitting to mention her beloved Welsh rugby team. Having been spoilt through the glory years of the 70ths and endured the darker times and false dawns of the decades to follow, she was able to wacth a young and exciting Welsh side emerge to win the hearts of the fans around the world at last year's World Cup and return from New Zealand to "smash" all before them to win an 11th Grand Slam earlier this year. Cymru am byth!!

Mum and Dad would often spend a least one of their mini-break holidays each year somewhere on the Gower Coast - "the most beautiful place in the world". Mum adored returning to that part of her homeland, and not just because she could re-live her childhood love for the world famous "Joe's Ice Cream", but it certainly helped. Unsurprisingly, for her 70th birthday, she chose Caswell Bay as the place to assemble her offspring and our families to celerate the occasion.

Mum also spent a large amount of time practising the art of flower arranging. We say practising as the later years were certainly markedly better than some of her earlier attempts. Flower Club was also one of many examples of how Mum was always ready to get involved and help others. Through such Clubs and Committees, neighbours, fellow teachers etc etc, we know Mum developed many close and longstanding friendships - supporting each other through thick and thin (yes that was deliberate - see below), good times and bad.

In her late years, Mum did decide to lose some weight and try to resist her love for the likes of clotted cream teas and hostess dessert trolleys. (Mum was devasted when 'Food Standards' banned the use of hostess trolleys in restaurants - it was always the first thing she looked for on arrival!). With a few close friends, Mum joined Weight Watchers to lose the weight sensibly and in a sustainable way. She also started doing a lot more exercise with swimming, aquarobics, walking and chasing round after the grandchildren. Over the course of a couple of years she had successfully managed to lose over 3 stone.

Sadly, out of the blue, following a routine blood test in March this year, Mum was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. We all discussed and agreed on a treatment plan and Mum commenced a course of chemotherapy at Russells Hall Hospital. Unfortunately, with her immune system 'defenseless', Mum developed a severe chest infection that despite all the best efforts of the medical team, the love of her family and friends and her own inner strength, her body was just unable to overcome.

Less than a month after being apparently perfectly healthy and in the best shape for years, Mum was tragically taken from us on Thursday 26 April 2012. She will be sadly missed but very fondly remembered. She may not have always been an Angel while she was alive (in fact, if someone really made her angry, or on the very rare occasions we were a tiny bit naughty (really??) it is rumoured that there were sightings of a fire breathing Welsh dragon in the Midlands region) but as we tell her grandchildren - she is an Angel now. Mum's final resting place is back 'home' in Treharris, with her mother and father, as she had always wanted.

As Mum would say to us, "Goodnight, God Bless"

[* Claim to fame of Treharris - it is where the Two Ronnies filmed the final scenes of the comedy sketch series "The worm that turned" on 9 August 1980 with the full Treorchy male voice choir singing "We'll keep a welcome". As Max Boyce would famously say, "I know 'cos I was there", and we do because we were there, watching it as it was filmed, during a school summer holiday visit to Mum's family. YouTube video attached in "Gallery" - watch from 14 minutes onwards for relevant and, in retrospect, very apt final scenes overlooking Treharris.]