Couple’s mission of mercy is remembered

Those of us who are old enough to remember the Gulf War of 1991 will not have forgotten the sight on their TV screens of Kurdish refugees fleeing the country in their thousands.

Well, one Mansfield lady and her husband were so touched by what they saw, they filled a rental van with aid and drove it all the way to a Turkish refugee camp.

Viv Walker (53), formerly of Mansfield, described her mother Betty Dawson (86), who died recently, as ‘extremely loving and generous.’

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Once Betty and Husband Arthur (84) had arrived at the airbase of Diyarbikar, Eastern Turkey, they thought their job was done.

But when a member of the Chinook helicopter crew asked them if they would like to help distribute it, the good-hearted pair could not refuse.

Said Viv: “I think being in the middle of what was happening was heartbreaking for them.

“It was unbelievable to them that anyone could be in that situation.”

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Viv said the pair never returned to the region but the Kurdish refugees were always in their thoughts and prayers.

Betty died on 28th February. After leaving Mansfield’s St Peter’s School aged 14, Betty worked in the hosiery industry until the 1970s before finishing work to help look after her aging parents.

She contributed to South Mansfield Church Fellowship and loved cooking and entertaining people in her home.

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