Yvonne M. Willis-Bates, aged 89, died Sunday, October 28th at Forest Hills Care Center.
Yvonne was born on March 2nd, 1923 in Sandwich, Kent, England, shortly after the Great War.
When she was 4 years old, the family moved to Ramsgate, a seaside town a few miles up the coast, right on the English Channel. She spent her childhood and young adult life there.
She and her mother lived there through the ravages of World War 2, being on the invasion coast, the town was heavily bombed. They spent many nights in the air raid shelters. These were originally the old chalk smugglers caves that were converted for use for protection during the war. She witnessed the Dunkirk evacuation, as the many small boats left Ramsgate Harbour to rescue soldiers stranded across the 22 miles of the English Channel on the coast of France.
She trained during the War as a probationer with the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service.
She came to the U.S. In 1952, as a Nanny to a family in Greenwich, Connecticut. She lived in Ct. for many years, returning there after settling in California for a while and even after a sojourn back in the U.K. She worked in a variety of jobs. As well as being a Nanny, she also held some administrative jobs, was house mother at a boarding school in Connecticut, and in later years was a private duty caregiver for the elderly. She seemed to enjoy the role of caregiver, at which she excelled.
After retirement she moved first to Rhode Island and then to Florida. Then 10 years ago she moved to Cincinnati, to be near family. She is predeceased by her two older brothers, Douglas and Dennis Bates, both of the UK. She is survived by her only child, Lynn M. Ticotsky who resides in Hyde Park with her husband Dan. She is to be cremated and Lynn will take her ashes back to the UK to be scattered in their home town of Ramsgate, where there will be a small private memorial gathering for the remaining family members and friends.
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