#14640, Helen GIBBINS

Helen and Sir Michael have 3 children: sons, Thomas (54) and William (52) and daughter Rachel (48) (2023) and 4 grandchildren  When Helen died (after a long illness) Sir Michael described her as the 'bedrock of my life.'  They first met at Southwold in Suffolk aged 16 and then met again on Michael's first day up at Oxford.  They had been married for 57 years.  Michael claimed that Helen gave him tremendous reassurance; she always knew what he should or should not do which was important to him as he worked all around the world.  Despite her chronic pain and kidney failure they joked a lot, even towards the end.

In addition to Michael shown below Mary and Edward had a daughter, Angela born 1934 who died 1987.