For the memory that is my father, Russell Alton.
His tribute page is also at www.russellalton.co.uk.
Russell lived in Surrey for most of his life. He was born in New Malden, Surrey on 12 November 1924.
He served in the army and fought in Word War II. He served some of his time in India. When he left the army he resumed work as a motor mechanic. He also worked as a Salesman and a General Manager in a hardware store.
He married (circa. 1952) Cynthia and had a daughter with her, Lynda. They separated and after an unknown time, he met and had a relationship with Pamela. They had three children together, Michèle in 1963, Nikola in 1965 and Wayne in 1967.
He had a friend in Kenneth, whose wife was Betty. When Ken died, Russell was asked to look after Betty and they were to become companions for the rest of their lives.
During the 1970’s, Russell ran a café in New Malden and later had a dry cleaning business in Sutton. Betty operated the press. He retired from work in 1985 and moved to a flat in Carshalton. He would spend his mornings driving Betty to a part-time cleaning job, occasionally helping her when he could.
On 24 December 2001, Betty died following a fall at home. Russell took on the three Yorkshire Terriers of Betty’s; Charlie, Emma and Abigail and he had one of his own, Ele. In 2006, the eldest dog, Charlie, died and then Emma and Abigail died the following year.
On 12 April 2008, Russell passed away at 9.20pm at St. Helier Hospital, Carshalton.
