Josie Anne Stuart-Smith
Josie Anne Stuart-Smith (1932 – 2021) was born to Horace and Phyllis Stuart in Leicester on 10th June 1932. She had three brothers Ralph, Trevor and Tony. Josie went to Nottingham University to study agriculture and horticulture where she met Mervyn Smith. They married on 16th July 1954 at the Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Thurmaston, Leicester. After securing a job as a student gardener at Cambridge University’s Botanic Gardens, Mervyn’s job with the Colonial Agricultural Service took them to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Sabah in Borneo. During these travels, Josie and Mervyn first son Ben was born. Jonathan was born when Josie and Mervyn had returned to live in Cambridge. As well as providing landscape gardening services, Josie became an accomplished potter, selling her work and teaching pottery and gardening at schools in Cambridge, Leys, Perse and Roger Ascham schools. Josie’s other interests included nurturing bonsai trees, cooking, especially Malay cuisine, reading, cycling and playing badminton. She was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the women’s protests at Greenham Common.