Farewell to Conservative Party activist Joan Stally
Published: 03 February 2011
by DAN CARRIER
IT was a farewell Joan Stally would have been proud of: scores of councillors, former mayors, neighbours, friends and work colleagues came together at St Dominic’s church in Gospel Oak to pay their respects to the community campaigner and Conservative Party activist who passed away in October last year.
As the New Journal reported last week, Ms Stally, who lived in Malden Road, died alone, with no immediate relatives or will. The deeply private 87-year-old had left no instructions in the event of her death, but friends from Gospel Oak and council officers have spent four months uncovering information about her past and discovered the grave of her late husband, Spitfire pilot Peter Stally, who died tragically in a Tube crash in 1953. Now Ms Stally has been laid to rest with the man she lost at such a young age in horrendous circumstances.
Speaking at the service was her former boss, Camden Council’s chief engineer, Dugal Gonsal. He said that when Ms Stally first started working for him at his office in the old Hampstead Town Hall, he was slightly worried that he would be up to her standards.
“I had heard she was the personal assistant for Henry Kissinger, and had worked at the United Nations – that was slightly daunting,” said Mr Gonsal.
Labour councillor Roger Robinson recalled her smile when he last saw her, and that while she was a dedicated Conservative Party member, their different political outlooks helped rather than hindered their friendship.
“While we had different views, we always remained very fond of each other and each other’s company,” said Cllr Robinson. “I had secret ideas of converting her but it never happened!
“She gave so much to the people of this borough.”
Mourners heard how Ms Stally was a cat lover who became a vegetarian because she loved animals and could not bear the thought of humans killing them. She spent many happy years in Nairobi and also worked for a time for the Kenyan government and then for the British High Commission. She learned Swahili and also showed a talent for amateur dramatics and singing while she lived in Africa.
Ms Stally returned to London to live in Belsize Park in 1980, and friend Elaine Mackover recalled how right up until the end of her life, she gave time to others. Using her secretarial skills Ms Stally became involved with various Conservative Party affiliated groups.
Mrs Mackover added: “She was so efficient and hard working, and sometimes went to two or three meetings a day. She will be sorely missed by everyone who knew her.”
Lib Dem councillor Jill Fraser, who was a friend of Ms Stally and helped track down her husband’s resting place, told the congregation that she owed her an apology: “I am afraid I have let out her best kept secret: her age! She was so private, that even when we celebrated her birthday, she didn’t let on which one it was.”
After the service Ms Ms Stally’s coffin was taken to the RAF cemetery North Weald in Essex to be buried alongside her husband.
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