Roger West (YG 1962)
25 April 2025
Old Scholars will be saddened to hear of the death of Roger West (YG 1962). The OSA has been in contact with his niece, Vicki Bennett, who has written the following account of his life.Roger was born in London on 7 June 1944 – the day after D-Day when he knew it was safe, as he told family! He attended Friends' School Saffron Walden as the latest in a growing family connection to the school – his mother Ruth West (YG 1934, née Stubbs, ) attended FSSW alongside her sister/Roger’s aunt Jean Stubbs (YG 1936), who returned as a teacher from 1956 to1981, and his grandmother Margaret Stubbs, the housekeeper/matron of the first Junior School when it was in Croydon House from 1930 to 1948. Roger’s younger brother Jeremy (YG 1967) joined him at FSSW and has fond memories of the overlap in their time at school.Roger continued his education at Downing College, Cambridge before working with the Medical Research Council. He moved to Edinburgh in the early 1970s with his work and there he met and married Carol and the couple decided to remain in the city following his employment with the MRC. Roger then worked with the Royal Bank of Scotland for a short time before becoming a teacher, working in a number of Edinburgh schools.Throughout his life, Roger continued both his interest in railway travel, begun at FSSW with the Railway Club, and his passion for botany. In Edinburgh, he was an active member of the Friends of Fairmilehead Park, his local green space, and also the Botanical Society of Scotland. He enjoyed composing poetry and puzzles to share with the Bot. Soc. and family, and also writing stories for nephews and nieces, featuring them and himself as the main characters in exciting adventures, and sharing his love of science through some fairly explosive experiments – a continuation of a mischievous hobby he had first begun at Friends'!He and Carol remained devoted to each other and their beloved dogs until her death in 2023. Roger’s health then deteriorated and after spending a happy and comfortable few months in a care home, writing poetry and discussing politics and world affairs until the very end, he passed away on 22 November 2024.