“The half is very important.” So said Yvonne Friers, who died six months short of her 101st birthday. What a lady. What a character. What a story.
Born Evelyn McFarlane in Beragh, Co Tyrone, she was brought up first by her aunt when her mother died. On her death, her cousin Agnes then stepped in and brought the young teenager to Belfast to live with her.
They travelled the rough road by pony and trap, an adventure the girl never forgot and which gave her a great love of horses. Indeed, at her funeral on Wednesday, her coffin was carried by a horse-drawn carriage to the Church of St Philip and St James in Holywood.
It must have been a very traumatic time for the young woman, moving from a rural setting to a bustling city, and then having to take refuge under the table in her new home in Stranmillis Gardens as bombs dropped on Belfast. But life went on and she became a member of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, taught Sunday School and then taught shorthand at Stranmillis College.
In the days of Lord Carson, she became secretary to Senator Quinn, a blind politician who called her ‘his eyes’. She worked in his office and took him to government meetings at Stormont to take down minutes.
When she joined Fisherwick Dramatic Society, like others she was excited when the young set designer and artist Rowel Friers joined the company. They were immediately attracted to each other and romance blossomed.
Yvonne liked recalling how her famous suitor knocked at her door one evening. She’d been giving herself a beauty treatment and had applied a thick white face mask. She was mortified when the unexpected caller turned out to be Rowel, who said: “Ah you must have known I was coming, you’ve caked your bake!”
They married in McCracken Memorial Church in 1954 and remained happily together for the next 70 years.
They liked to walk their pedigree Basset Hound named Shawcross through the town, but one day a shopkeeper wasn’t pleased to see them: “That old dog of yours stinks.”
Rowel explained gently that hounds do have a particular smell. “However,” he added, “you sir are fat and you stink but I would never dream about saying that to you.” With that, he and Yvonne continued their dignified morning walk.
Yvonne ran Brookside nursery school for 33 years in their Holywood home, where many of the most successful men and women in the area, including actor Jamie Dornan, can thank her for a positive and imaginative start to life.
She was also Rowel’s partner in business, keeping his complex diary, sorting out contracts and writing letters. They had three children, Vivien, Jeremy and Timothy, and theirs was a life of parties and welcoming celebrities to their home – James Ellis, Ruth Madoc, Brendan O’Dowda, Terry Waite, Candy Devine and David Hammond. The famous clown Pierre Picton caused excitement when he parked the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car at the house.
Yvonne travelled with Rowel as he fundraised for Cystic Fibrosis, attending functions with John Major in Downing Street and Princess Alexandra at Claridge’s, and at Buckingham Palace when Rowel received an MBE for his contribution to journalism.
Yvonne ran Brookside nursery school for 33 years in their Holywood home, where many of the most successful men and women in the area, including actor Jamie Dornan, can thank her for a positive and imaginative start to life
After his death in 1998 she continued to live in the family home with son Jeremy and his wife Josephine, still holding parties, and no matter where she went, always wearing one of her trademark crocheted hats made by her daughter-in-law. Why? “She liked the attention!” was Jeremy’s answer.
She was very proud of her grandchildren and was close to Jeremy’s son Rowel (21), a multi-award-winning concert pianist. Despite her age, she accompanied him to competitions and concerts including to New York when he played in Carnegie Hall.
Yvonne Friers died on May 15. A wife, a mother, a granny and a teacher to many, she was a lovable character who loved life.
Offering deepest sympathies to her family and friends.
