2.4.3.5.3.3 Norma Beryl Vevers

[Last amended: June 7, 2003]


[Photo courtesy Andrea Seymour]

Norma Beryl Vevers was the third child of Edward Gwynne Vevers and Ethel Mary Jenkins. She was born about on September 25, 1909 at 15 Henleage Gardens, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol.

Andrea Seymour provided the following background on her grandmother Norma.

Norma dated a "nice" boy named John. She then fell in love with his best friend Joeseph Waller of whom her parents did not approve. Norma was initially sent off to South Africa so that she would forget about Joeseph and marry a nice boy. She married Joe the moment she returned. Joe went off to WWII for many years and on trips back managed to have two children (Jane & Derek). Joe & Norma were married for over 60 years.

Norma and Joe's wedding in 1936

[Photo courtesy Andrea Seymour]

Norma married Joseph Hope Waller on October 10, 1936 at Horfield Church, Bristol. They had two children:

  1. Derek Mark who married Shirley Elizabeth Haigh. They have 2 children: Neil and Ian; and
  2. Jane who married Ralph Norman Seymour. They, too, have two children: Julia and Andrea.

Derek and Jane in 1940

[Photo courtesy Andrea Seymour]

 

The following article was published in the local paper on the occassion of Norma and Joe's diamond wedding anniversary.

Advice from a diamond pair

"Don't run off to mother after the first row and split up" are the wise words of advice from a Langton Matravers woman celebrating 60 years of marriage.

Now 87, Norma Waller (nee Vevers) and Joe Waller, 84, were married in 1936 at the Holfield Church in Bristol.

In Wareham for 20 years, the pair now live at the Old Rectory retirement home next to St George's Church, Langton Matravers, which Norma attends.

The couple first met at the Tidworth Tattoo in Hampshire during the early 1930s when she spotted him up a telegraph pole. Joe admitted he was sitting there "to get a good view and save admission money".

"He only came down when the food came on the scene," recalled Norma with a smile. She had gone to the event with another chap, later best man at Joe's and Norma's wedding.

The couple were born in Bristol. Joe spending his entire working life with the Nat West bank, retiring as a manager at Stoke's Croft in Bristol.

Norma brought up her son Derek and daughter Jane alone as Joe spent eight years with the Indian Army in North Africa during the war.

After Joe retired from the bank, the couple moved to Wareham during the mid-1970s - where, co-incidentally, his father had his first bank. Settling into local life, Norma helped in a charity shop and became a guide at St Martin's Church.

Joe and Norma have two children - Derek in Clitheroe, Lancashire, who visited Purbeck to celebrate his parents anniversary, and Jane in California, as well as four grandchildren and one great-grandson.

Norma died in 1999.

Joseph Hope Waller was born on May 20, 1912. Hope was his mother's maiden name. He died in 1997.

Return to top