Dorinda Lafone, a long time resident and wife of former CHRC Chairman 1961-67, Jack Hooper, passed peacfully recently. Known as Mum to Carol, Sue and Zan.  Gan to her 5 grandchildren Liz, Evy, Mark, Alice and Jack and 7 great grandchildren James, Judd, Arlo, Bebe, Ava, Dylan and Henry, Dorinda to her friends, De to some, Mrs Hooper, Mrs Lafone and often called Lady D. 

As a child she was always riding and hunting, as did all her family,  and she had a broad knowledge of horses.  She loved the companionship of dogs all her life, she loved nature, plants, gardens, trees.  Right to the end she enjoyed sitting on her bench in her garden looking over her wild-flower meadow and enjoying the sunshine,  noticing what plant or flower had come out in the garden or what needed doing.  She knew the names of all the roses in the garden and most of the Latin names of plants!

Dorinda was born in May 1925.  She was an only child.  Her father was in the Army in the Worcestershire regiment.  Her mother came from a large family in Worcestershire. At 3 months old the family went to India on a troop ship.  They lived in Allahabad and in the hot weather moved with the regiment to the hill stations like Darjeeling where it was lush and green.  There are stories Dorinda would recount when,  as a baby, asleep on the verandah an elephant that had escaped from its owner came along and waved his trunk right over her cot. The next day the local maharaja came and took Dorinda for a ride on the elephant as an apology. When Dorinda was 5 years old she came back to England and went to school in Worcestershire.  She went back to Lahore, India for a while before boarding school at Westonbirt. She spent a lot of time in school holidays with both sets of grandparents in Worcestershire and Devon and was consequently very close to her cousins.  Her father was required for WW2 so they were then based in Plymouth.

After school Dorinda trained as a Physiotherapist at Kings Hospital in London.  When bombing started they were moved to Epsom where she lived with her friend Liz Henderson .  Dorinda and Liz travelled around on bikes with the sound of doodle bugs all around.  She also spent some time training in Bromsgrove when Epsom became too dangerous.  When she did her final exams in London the bells were ringing for the end of war.  Her first job as a Physio was in St Albans. Dorinda saw her first husband Jack Hooper at a hunt ball in Worcestershire when she was home from school aged about 12/13.  Some years later they met again at a mutual family event and travelled back to London together.  Their first date was to see Jack in Court as a barrister.  They were in fact step third cousins once removed!  They married in May 1948 at Holy Trinity Brompton in Knightsbridge.  They lived at Misbourne House in Chalfont St Giles for their first few years and had three daughters Carol Sue and Rosanne.  Then they moved to Beech Lawn Chalfont Heights.

Dorinda had a way with people of all ages.  She was a great listener and was wise – always happy to share sound advice if asked.  She was completely non judgemental and accepted people as they were.  She took a huge interest in people – her own family and friends – and loved to hear people’s news. She was generous with her time and full of kindness and had tremendous emotional intelligence and practical good sense.