"That’s Just Who She Was" 97-Year-Old Billericay Woman Leaves Behind a Legacy of Smiles
Mamie’s life wasn’t always kind. But she was.
Mamie Woodman of Billericay lost her father when she was only three, and her only child and husband each far before his time. Yet, she lived each day of her 97 years with faith and hope, and when she passed in December 2021, she made a gift in her Will that will bring health, joy, and second chances to children in need for generations to come.
Mamie’s family shared her incredible life story with us in the hopes that it might inspire the best in those reading it, as she always inspired the best in them.
Mamie Nicholson was born on 28 October 1924 in Ashington, Northumberland, the fifth and youngest child (all girls) of Ruth and George Nicholson. George was originally a gardener but was conscripted to the coal mines, where he contracted Bright’s disease from standing waist-deep in water in the pits. He died at the age of 42, when Mamie was just three years old. Ruth took in lodgers and washing to make ends meet but wanted better opportunities for her girls than Ashington offered. So in July 1935, when Mamie was 10, Ruth moved the family south to Ilford, Essex, where her eldest daughter, Rita, was studying nursing.
The City of London was only a short commute from Ilford, and Mamie became a typist there, working for several different companies. Whilst working at Lloyds Bank near the Monument, a colleague introduced her to a friend, a budding draughtsman named Stuart Woodman, thinking they would make a good couple. Mamie realised that Stuart was indeed the one for her, and they were married in October 1956 at All Saints Church, Goodmayes, Essex and moved to a three-bed semi in Clayhall, Ilford.
Seven years later, on 1 April 1963, Mamie and Stuart were blessed with a son, Robert.
Both Stuart’s sister and mother lived in Canada, a country which beckoned to Mamie and Stuart as an opportunity for a “better life”. They took the huge decision to emigrate to Toronto in October 1967, when Robert was four and a half. This must have been a huge wrench, as Mamie was very close to her mother. Stuart worked as a draughtsman for Chubb Fire, designing fire extinguishers with patents to his name, giving them a good standard of living in very comfortable homes on the shores of Lake Ontario. Mamie made frequent visits back to the UK to see her family.
Tragically, Mamie and Stuart lost Robert on 26 February 1993, just short of his 30th birthday. More heartbreak followed when, sadly, Stuart passed away from motor neurone disease on 24 April 1998, Mamie having dutifully nursed him for many months to the end.
Even after having suffered these terrible and still raw personal tragedies, Mamie decided to travel to the UK a few months later to help nurse her sister Joan through her final days. That’s just who she was.
She returned to the UK permanently in 1999, buying a flat in Billericay, where she enjoyed looking out at the trees and watching the comings and goings of the community below from her second-floor window. She remained there until August 2021, when she moved into Anisha Grange Care Home in Billericay. Sadly, Mamie was only at Anisha for four months before she died from pneumonia just before Christmas.
Mamie was a practising Jehovah’s Witness and remotely linked into all the weekly services. She was a great reader of her Bible, kept her mind active through crossword puzzles, and took a keen interest in the activities of all her family, as well as current affairs, and was a very good conversationalist.
During her time in the UK, she became a great supporter of a number of charities, including Smile Train. She made her bequest in honour of family member who was born over 80 years ago with a serious cleft. He had 13 surgeries on his mouth before he was five years old. His teeth grew in an irregular fashion and had to be removed as he got older; they caused him so much trouble that he hardly lived at home because of his difficulties in eating. He firmly believed his cleft made life harder for him, as not everyone understood him and could sometimes be unkind.
But Mamie was never unkind. With her final act, she helped ensure that no child anywhere will have to suffer as our relative did. That’s just who she was, and there could be no more fitting tribute to her than the Legacy of Smiles she left behind.
Would you like to leave a legacy of smiles and second chances for children that will last for generations?