Ever since the death of their father, Alice Fenton and her younger sister, Nancy, had shared the old family home; Gainsborough, in Tamworth Road, Coventry. The evening of Saturday March 18th, 1960 saw Nancy extremely concerned about her sister’s condition. Alice had been complaining for the last few weeks of headaches, numbness and feelings of nausea. Tonight was different though, the ever-bright Alice seemed easily confused, she was struggling to see and was completely numb on one side of her body, worst of all, a terrible unrelenting headache. Nancy, in despair, called an ambulance.
Alice was rushed into an intensive care ward at the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital. Nancy sat in the waiting area having accompanied her sister and medics in the ambulance. After an hour’s wait, the duty matron appeared, “Nancy, I’m so sorry, your sister has had a major stroke. The bleeding on her brain was so serious, I’m afraid we tried everything we could, but we haven’t been able to save her. Alice is dead, Nancy, we are all so sorry.”
They had tickets for their usual Saturday night dance session at The Locarno. Alice was flying off to the New York International Auto Show later in the month, Mr Lyons had made her reservation at the Waldorf Astoria. She is the only female director of a British car manufacturer. She is my sister, and I am so, so proud of her. She can’t be dead! Someone please tell me this is all a