A FORMER director of education for Westmorland who lived in Windermere has died aged 94.
Guy Kenneth Greenwood was born in the Natal province of South Africa where his father, Frank, a minister from Kendal, was working for the Church Missionary Society.
Mr Greenwood’s great-grandfather on his mother Madge’s side was Roger Moser, founder of what is now Milne Moser Solicitors with offices in Kendal and Milnthorpe.
In 1930 the family returned to the UK and took up residence in Cawthorne, South Yorkshire.
Between 1944 and 1947 Mr Greenwood served in the Royal Artillery and was seconded to the Indian army as captain adjutant, being stationed in the Nilgiri Hills in southern India.
He was introduced to future wife Heather Blackadder by paternal aunt May Greenwood, with whom Ms Blackadder was lodging while working at Kendal High School.
The couple married in 1947 and moved to Cambridge, where Mr Greenwood read history at St John’s College.
After gaining a degree in psychology at the University of St Andrews and spending time teaching in Lincolnshire and Somerset, Mr Greenwood began a career in local government, during which time his family burgeoned to include seven children.
In 1967, he was appointed director of education for Westmorland, then being the youngest person to hold a director’s post, performing this role until 1974. The job was based in Kendal and Mr Greenwood lived in Windermere.
Following this, he served the newly-formed county council for a number of years, before moving to the charity Christian Aid, working as its secretary for Northumberland and Cumbria.
During this time, he was lucky enough to travel back to South Africa with a number of delegates from the charity and meet Nelson Mandela.
Following retirement in the late seventies, Mr Greenwood moved to Underbarrow.
He held various voluntary posts during his life, including the chairmanship of the Westmorland Arts Trust and a trusteeship at Westmorland Hall.
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