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News > OP updates > Obituaries > Gerry Houldsworth RIP

Gerry Houldsworth RIP

Gerry
Gerry

Gerald 'Gerry' Brian Houldsworth
OP 1954
2 February 1936 - 27 June 2023

With our thanks to Paul Mitchell OP

Gerry was born into a family of Portsmouth printers and so it was inevitable that he would in some way become involved in the business. Before that though, he was evacuated to a school in Anglesey and the Town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch until 1945. He then went through PGS before completing National Service in Hong Kong. During that time he just seemed to watch Hollywood movies, buy and sell sport cars, and play double bass in jazz bands. He did not pick up one word of the local language, or take one bite of the local cuisine.

Upon returning to Civvy Street, he trained in Hackney as a photographer and silk screen printer. He met Wendy, his wife, whilst working in the design studio for Metal Box in Portsmouth. They married in 1970 and subsequently had two boys, Grant and Richard. The previous year, Gerry had bought a brand new MGB Roadster; it was probably the zenith of his taste in cars for he used to own and drive a number of old cars to Classic car shows. Most of those cars were Classic, not because they were desirable but simply because they were old. The most tasteless was an Opel Monza that had been resprayed purple with shiny bits in the paint. The MGB remained mostly in a garage, unused. 

Gerry was an energetic person, though he calmed down somewhat when he married. He was not always the most practical person, regarding servicing of cars as an optional extra, though he was able to turn his hand to most things. He was an enthusiastic early adopter of computers which resulted in a house full of succeeding generations of obsolete computers and cables. He taught me, his schoolboy brother in law, Paul, to ride a motorbike but he did not actually pass his own bike test for another thirty odd years. The teaching may not have been that good for I hit a bus on the first day riding to school and fell off the second day braking for a zebra crossing.

His photography was excellent, winning prizes for photography of sports, motorcycles and his obsession, steam trains. He made his own rolling stock models from scratch. He also collected railway lamps, clocks and several massive brass locomotive name plates.

For five years he worked for the Portsmouth Evening News where he was a compositor - a job in those days done with a scalpel and lots of sticky tape on acetate - but then set up his own successful business which he and Wendy ran from their Southsea home. He was intensely happy, firstly that he had found a way to convert a personal interest in photography into a career, and secondly in finding a niche where he could build a personal business from this. He could work when he pleased which often involved the wee hours of the morning followed by a lie in. The work ranged from designing printed circuit boards to printing cases for fire/burglar alarms; the orders came in from all over Europe. 

The gregarious and extrovert nature of Gerry meant that there would inevitably be noise and some disruption wherever he went, be it a supermarket or a restaurant. The confusion caused would always be accompanied by laughter which smoothed the situation. He continued playing the double bass in bands and encouraged family members to play other instruments such as the saxophone with him. 

The eccentricity of Gerry at times is perhaps partially demonstrated by the fact that after he suddenly died, the house cellar was found to contain several new but unopened ice cream makers and pressure cookers. No-one knew they were there or why he bought so many. Gerry liked attending old boys and other societies’ dinners. He was fun to be with, often extremely generous and is deeply missed by those that knew him.

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