Tribute
Watson In
a tribute to the late Gertrude
Mary Watson (PJ, 11 November,
p591), BETTY JACKSON writes:
I first met Gee Watson in 1946 when I
spent a short time in the pharmacy department at Nottingham. Gee showed
me great kindness and soon had me joining a small group that walked
round the lake in front of the Trent building every day. She also introduced
me to the beauties of the Derbyshire Peak District, and we formed a
close friendship, which has lasted over 60 years.
Gee obtained her pharmacy degree following a course at the pharmacy
school in Birmingham, as an external London student — no mean achievement
in those days because most pharmacy students opted to take the Pharmaceutical
Society’s qualifying examinations. There followed an apprenticeship
in community pharmacy in Birmingham and, after a brief spell in the pharmaceutical
industry, she was appointed lecturer in pharmaceutics in the pharmacy
department at Nottingham, where she taught pharmacy practice, including
the forensic aspects.
Early in 1949, in collaboration with Estelle Feeney who, at that time,
was senior assistant pharmacist at Croydon Hospital, she produced a new
and fully revised edition of Bentley’s ‘Aids to dispensing’ to
include the dispensing of antibiotics and other new drugs that had been
introduced into the 1948 edition of the British Pharmacopoeia. This updating
gave new life to a popular student handbook and it was reprinted later
in the same year.
Gee will be remembered by her students not only for her teaching skills,
which were exceptional, but also for the visits to the Lake District
that she organised to take place in the Easter vacations. Although the
visits were discontinued after five years, the camaraderie they generated
left a lasting impression on students who had been involved — so
much so that, years later, in 1982, a group of them returned to the Lake
District for a reunion to which, of course, Gee was invited. This proved
to be a resounding success and has now become an annual event.
After her retirement in 1972, Gee continued to take an active interest
in the development of the Nottingham University campus and was proud
of all that has been achieved. She maintained contact with her former
colleagues and attended open lectures and exhibitions. She had abundant
energy and was always eager to expand her horizons. She was a keen gardener,
a competent needlewoman, and she regularly attended French conversation
classes. As a life member of the National Trust she gave talks to local
groups, illustrated with transparencies, some of which she had taken
herself. She was an inveterate letter-writer, and a long, newsy letter
from her, in her characteristic, clear handwriting, was always a joy
to receive.
With advancing years, Gee’s health started to deteriorate, but
she kept her independence and stayed in her own home for as long as possible.
Fortunately, her final illness was relatively short and she passed away
peacefully in a nursing home. During her long and useful life she never
wavered from the high principles and standards which she had set for
herself. She will be remembered with gratitude and affection by all who
knew her.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal