Roy Frederick Tuffrey

Roy was born on the 26th April 1928, a Thursday to his parents Albert and Alice Tuffrey in Neasden, North London. He was one of 5 with Burt, Reg, Nig and his twin Eric. And together they lived as a family in Quainton Street, Neasden On leaving school he, like many other young men of the time, he did his National Service being posted to the middle east. Once back on civi street he worked in Kings Cross at the Mount Pleasant sorting office. On the 27th October 1951, having met a certain young lady by the name of Doris Cook a few years earlier at a dance, they married and continued to live in Neasden until they relocated to Hemel Hempstead with their good friends Alan and Eileen after Roy found employment with Access Equipment in the town. And they remained in Hemel until 1987 when they moved to Nottinghamshire for a couple of years before returning to Hertfordshire. Roy and Doris were godparents to Alan and Eileen’s children Debbie and Karen, and in turn Alan and Eileen were godparent to Kevin and Robert. Subsequent jobs took Roy to Kodak, and the BP where he became Chief Cashier and stayed until his retirement. Sadly, after losing twin girls, Cheryl and Kim on the 28th October 1966, Doris and Roy decided to adopt, firstly Kevin aged just 6 weeks in 1967 followed by Robert, 6 weeks again, in 1970. Both Kevin and Robert have always considered themselves Doris and Roy’s children and I know they grew up in a safe, loving and happy home. As is the natural way of things, the family grew in later years with Kevin and Robert starting their own families. Grandchildren Holly, Nicholas, Ross and Danny came along and great children have now also come along with Harry, Sophie and JK. By all accounts Roy was always happy, easy to get along with and loved a joke. He also liked his holidays, so much so in the late 70’s Roy was informed he was going to be made redundant and was to get a quite substantial pay off. Always so good with money they had a good amount of savings and decided to splash out on a family ‘once in a life time’ 2 weeks Caribbean Cruise. He spent literally every penny he had on this holiday and when they all returned home, like paupers, he was informed that, erm, sorry, we’ve decided to keep you on. Sadly Roy’s heart, breathing and back have been poor for many years, he then developed a water infection about 3 years ago which hospitalised him almost overnight. He never returned home after that and was diagnosed with dementia soon afterwards, spending his last years in care homes in Watford and then Luton to be closer to family. With their love they were well placed to ensure his care was excellent. As a family we would like to apologise to anyone who knew our dad who was not contacted about his death. With so many distant family members and friends, and without his address book, we did our best. As people we missed are found we will inform you. Much love, Rob Tuffrey and family.