Pam Baker | | The Guardian

My mother Pam Baker, who has died of cancer aged 79, was a remarkable woman. Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 1936 she travelled, as a nine-year-old, with her parents to Singapore, where her father was Britain's comptroller of patents and trademarks for the far east. In 1942 she and her mother escaped the Japanese invasion

Other livesObituary

Pam Baker

My mother Pam Baker, who has died of cancer aged 79, was a remarkable woman. Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 1936 she travelled, as a nine-year-old, with her parents to Singapore, where her father was Britain's comptroller of patents and trademarks for the far east. In 1942 she and her mother escaped the Japanese invasion on one of the last boats to leave. Her father was interned in the Changi concentration camp and was the senior British civilian at the eventual Japanese surrender, receiving the sword of the second in command.

After the war, Pam studied at Bedford College, London, and returned as an almoner to Singapore, where she met my father, Barry, a solicitor. They married in 1956 and led an enjoyable working and social life. They founded the Singapore Children's Home, and brought up my older siblings David, Fiona and Vicki. They returned to Britain in 1963 and settled in Boars Hill, near Oxford; my father was a law lecturer at Oxford Polytechnic, my mother worked for the social services department of the Radcliffe Infirmary, and became director of social services for Oxfordshire hospitals.

My parents played a key role in raising funds to establish Vale House, the Botley Alzheimer's home, Oxford, still the only such hospice that admits patients solely on the basis of need. After we had grown up, they continued to travel; in 1996, a car accident in New Zealand left them in intensive care for six weeks. But they soon went back to an agenda of travel, partying and good works with gusto. My father died in 2000.

My mother's character and spirit remained to the end. A few days before she died, she asked me, "How are my legs?" (They were badly scarred after several falls.) I replied, "The nurse says they are a good bit better." "Bloody typical," she said. "My legs get better just as I go downhill."

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