Estelle died peacefully at Charing Cross Hospital on Monday, May 6^th following a brief illness. She is preceded in death by her mother Jeanne, father Noel, sister Sabine, and nephew Mark. Remaining to continue her legacy are her niece Heather, nephew-in-law Daniel, and godson Anthony.

Estelle was born in 1931 at the Royal Free Hospital, London. Her mother Jeanne was French and her father Noel half French half Swiss, was born in the UK. Noel was head waiter at the Dorchester, and Jeanne was wife and mother. The family home was in Cricklewood. Her lifelong love for the outdoors and gardens came from this home. During her childhood, she remembers sharing the home with tortoises, a rabbit, cats, and a wired-haired fox terrier.

Estelle attended St. Helen’s school Cricklewood. She loved to write and would use any surface available – including the soles of her shoes! There were happy times.

1939, war was pending, and her father joined the French army. Knowing that London would be bombed Noel arranged for the family to move to Deauville in Normandy. Jeanne found work as a manageress in a luxury handbag and jewelry shop. They were fortunate to be offered a ‘home’ in a room at the back of the shop. Estelle was 8 years old and remembered how difficult it was to get used to cooking, washing, and sleeping all in one room. This was the new normal and for months they heard nothing of her father Noel. In May 1940 with the Germans drawing closer Jeanne decided it was time to run for England. She acquired a pick-up truck and off they went. En-route in what Estelle described as a ‘big adventure,’ they picked up various people, some cleaner than others. They combed lice from their hair and slept in barns and stables with horses, donkeys, and rats. They washed in animal water troughs and slept on itchy, dusty hay. They were eventually encircled by Germans and turned back; the adventure was over.

They returned to the shop and remained there for the rest of the war. Estelle spoke fluent English but was forbidden to speak it for fear of being overheard by the German soldiers and arrested. At the end of 1940, a letter from the Red Cross confirmed that Noel had been wounded in Dunkirk and repatriated to England.

In 1941 Noel joined the British Army, the SOE (Special Operations Executive), and was parachuted into Normandy. He was separated from his fellow officers and decided to join his family. Estelle was surprised and thrilled. There was a German notice posted in the village “Any family found harboring allied forces would be shot along with soldier, sailor or airman”. They moved to the country to stay with friends. Networking continued as Noel and Jeanne recruited for the SOE and gathered vital intelligence to send back to England. At this time Estelle attended a Catholic school in Trouville where she loved to tutor fellow students in English.

1942 brought devastating news, a telegram informing that her father had been arrested along with two others, they were held accused of being spies, and they were held in a prison in Fresnes outside Paris. Jeanne was granted a travel permit and together they visited. They were informed that the crimes were punishable by death, and this was their opportunity to say goodbye. Estelle recalled the painful images of a man who’d obviously been tortured, his weight loss dramatic. Noel negotiated a ‘deal’, escaped death, only to be sent as a prisoner at Colditz Castle where he remained until the end of the war.

Although a child Estelle played a vital part in the Resistance. She’d talk of the secret messages written on toilet paper that she’d courier hidden in her hair, of interactions with the Gestapo and constantly having to be aware of her surroundings. Every knock on the door posed the question of a friend – postman or foe – Gestapo. They would often shelter Polish and Jewish personnel, hiding them in attics and their rifles in gardens. Estelle would talk of the friends she lost with sadness in her eyes.

Canadian Forces arrived, Estelle, now 13 became an interpreter at the town hall. The Americans joined the Canadians and with them came luxuries, oranges, chocolate, eggs, and huge tins of corned beef!

1945 and liberation came, Noel returned home, the family returned to England and settled in Shepherds Bush. Estelle won a scholarship to the French Lycee School in South Kensington.

After school, she worked in a car showroom in Victoria. She relayed tales of working overtime on a Saturday evening, she’d buy fish and chips and eating them in one of the new cars. At 20 she moved to furriers in Clifton Street where she did some catwalk modeling. 18 months later she joined A. Genet & Co. as a bilingual secretary. She remained here for 27 years enjoying business trips to the company’s offices in Sierra Leonne and climbing to Company Director. Deciding it was time for a change, she became a genealogist where she worked for 16 years before she retired. She was always keen to share that the company was in Knightsbridge and Harrod’s was their corner shop!

Estelle loved to shop (especially in charity shops), travel, embrace new cultures, and continually learn. She was also an avid reader, she enjoyed crosswords, scrabble, and chatting with family and friends. Her lifelong love of animals continued with feline companions Tommy, Lottie, and Sammie.