A eulogy for Peter Laurence Havard, National Treasurer of the Newman Association, Wrangler, and son of one of the Inklings, given by his brother Mark Havard on July 3rd 2015.
Eulogy given by Mark Havard on July 3rd at St Pius X, Alderley Edge, Cheshire
I am here to talk about our brother, Peter, the third of the five children of Robert and Grace Havard. Peter was born and brought up in Oxford. Our father was a doctor and member of the famous Inklings literacy circle which met in Oxford from the early 1930s until the early 1960s and included the brightest lights of twentieth century Christian literature – C S Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Peter was doubly a middle child in the family, but in spite of that, or perhaps because of it, he succeeded in surpassing all of us in academic distinction, since he was a Wrangler, a title achieved by obtaining a first in mathematics at Cambridge. He was also the most reticent and even most self-effacing among us. However, my sister Mary Clare reminds me that he was quietly determined when he wanted to be. Like all of us he was deeply affected and hurt by the early death of our mother who died when he was only 11.
His chief high point and time of achievement came after his triumph at Cambridge, when he had started working in Edinburgh. Through the Newman Centre there he met Pam. They became friends, fell in love and married. Pam and Peter meant everything to each other. They relied on each other, supported and helped each other and were, in every way a cohesive team. Together they built their lives and faith through thick and thin, and in the same way they built their family, Anna and Clare. If you want to see the crowning achievement of Pam and Peter's lives, you have only to look at the families and lives of Anna and Howard and of Clare and Francis, Charlotte and Imogen. This is their lasting heritage. Peter and Pam lived near John and Anne in Edinburgh for a number of years and the four of them remained close while they lived. They shared in the purchase of a holiday cottage on the coast of Berwickshire and worked together on its maintenance as well as sharing in its use.
Peter's professional career was spent with one company, ICL. Partly because of his personal humility, partly because none of us ever fully understood the technical intricacies of computer operating systems, and partly because of competitive commercial security, not one of us has a true appreciation of all he achieved professionally in the computer business. What is known is that he was the company's "go-to" expert. If there were major operating system problems, he was the person to fix them. He was the man who would put out fires and unravel glitches. He retired comparatively young and spent a great deal of the rest of his life engaged in volunteer work. Mary Clare tells the story that, soon after he retired, Peter put a small advertisement in the local newsagent's window advertising his services to anyone who was having problems with a personal computer. It was a little like Stephen Hawking offering tutoring services in arithmetic for nine-year-old students!
Throughout his life Peter's love of God and of his neighbour were at his centre. So during those years of retirement he worked tirelessly for this church: by playing the organ and singing in the choir and by organising its accounts and in all the other ways Father Thomas has described to us. He was very active in a charity that took disabled people on canal trips and in working for the poor in the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. He also was particularly dedicated to the work of the Alzheimers' Society. During the last years of his life he was the National Treasurer for the Newman Association of the UK and organised and maintained the books for the whole organization.
He was a very competent keyboard player, both on the piano and the organ. I remember, when he and I were at school at Ampleforth, he played the solo part in a very challenging piano concerto. I was unable to attend but I remember the music master telling me afterwards: "Not every note was exactly correct, but all the mistakes were truly musicianly ones!" He also took up photography and quite a number of his photographs were artistically outstanding.
Our brother Peter is very dear to us and we are going to miss his humour, his intelligence, his goodness, and his kindness. Life was not always easy for him but the great blessing of his life was Pam and his family. His greatest sadness was losing Pam recently and it is good to know that they are now together again. However he had the consolation of the care and attention Anna and Clare and their families gave to the last months and hours of his life so that when he died it was in the care of those who were closest to him. Our love and sympathy go to Anna and Clare whose loss is greatest and who did so much for their father and for our brother. They and their families form the lasting legacy Peter leaves to all of us.
The Inklings – a young Peter, in the early 1960s, sitting next to C S Lewis. Also in the group is Peter's father Robert.
A note by Mary and Mike Monaghan
Peter was Treasurer of the Manchester and North Cheshire Circle for some fifteen years. It was characteristic of him that he never drew attention to his long service or complained about it. And the Circle simply relied on his steady, unassuming and totally competent handling of our albeit simple financial affairs. He was a valued member and was much missed when he moved to Bristol. We were all saddened to hear of his death not very long afterwards.
A note by Anthony Baker
I got to know Peter when he became Treasurer after the 2012 AGM in Oxford. A gentle man, reserved but humorous, Peter never struck poses or offered sharp opinions. He was a delight to work with. Although the Association finances were in good shape he reorganised their presentation to Council, so we now have a clear idea where we stand and where the "chafing points" are. When he became seriously ill in the autumn of 2014, I acted as treasurer. In the midst of debilitating treatment Peter took great trouble to pass things over and to guide me through a powerful spreadsheet accounting package of his own design. That package has proved a boon, for my time and no doubt for years to come. Its quiet, unseen but effective control, reflecting the qualities of the man, may prove to be Peter's lasting Newman memorial. May he rest in peace.