Tribute to Jan Undery (nee Surman)
JAN UNDERY (nee Surman) was killed in a road traffic collision near Great Milton on 21 October 2009. Her family have released the following tribute:
Jan will be remembered by many for her outstanding musical talents, equally at home with the classics, sacred music, musicals or folk music. However, to her family and friends it will be her loving nature and natural vivacity that will be missed.
She started singing at the age of eight in Aston Rowant church choir, later developing her talents for signing and art at Lord Williams?s school, where she was frequent performer in school productions. After A levels she studied at Trent Park College in North London, qualifying with a Diploma in Higher Education. Her singing talents were further developed by professional mentoring.
On returning to Oxfordshire she decided to follow her childhood ambition and enrolled as a student nurse at Stoke Mandeville hospital. It was during this time that she met and became engaged to David Undery who was then a widower with two young children. She put her career on hold to marry him and help bring up the boys. This also meant following his career moves to Hampshire, Somerset and Devon. Music continued to play a large part in her life with many charity concerts including a week at the Kings Theatre in Southsea in Carmen.
Whilst in Devon, with the boys growing up, Jan and David had two children of their own, Tom, now 19 and working in the City and Sarah, now 17 and a student at Lord Williams?s in Thame.
When the family returned to Oxfordshire in 1993 they suffered the loss of David?s son Mark from meningitis and Jan was a tower of strength to David. To help the family she returned to nursing and qualified as an RGN initially working at Stoke Mandeville. Later she gained a BA (Hons) in Practice Nursing and became the Practice Nurse at Kennington. She then moved to ChristChurch in Oxford as the College Nurse.
Music was still an important part of her life and she sang with St. Mary?s in Thame and at a number of concerts mainly in Great Milton and Keble College, Oxford.
Jan was also a talented artist as well as a musician but will always be remembered as a lively and animated person who was never less than immaculate in her performances, appearance and looks. She is survived by her husband David and their children Tom and Sarah plus David?s son Paul and his wife Lotta and their children Lillian and Amelia. Her own family, particularly her brothers, Richard, Malcolm, Robert and Philip and their families are also mourning her loss.
The funeral will take place at St. Mary?s in Thame at 12 noon on Friday 6th November, followed by a private burial in Crowell and a reception at the Rose and Thistle in Haddenham. Family flowers only, please, but donations, which will be split between Meningitis UK and Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance can be made to Surman and Horwood, The Green, Crowell.
