This site is dedicated to the memory of Julie Hinchliffe.

Julie was born on the 8th January 1958 in the area of North West London known as Wembley. This was within earshot of the internationally famous Stadium, which was built in 1923, with an official capacity of 127,000 and was once described as the world's greatest sporting arena. This was, and is, the spiritual home of International Football or soccer as it’s called in the USA. Julie enjoyed many good times and made many memories at this stadium, often watching her beloved David Cassidy, singing along (and screaming) to every word. David Cassidy was Julies idol and her first visit to the US along with her friend Terri ( who came in search of the Osmond’s) was actually as a pair of carefree teenager to hunt down the man himself . It would be another 30 years before Julie actually got to meet, and hug, her idol at a meet and greet on The Isle of Wight they never forgot this happy time. She was to be the only child of Fred and Rose Coker and although she had no siblings she was blessed with the great number of Cousins, Aunts and Uncles of the close knit Coker family. We know they will all miss her dearly. She was born late in the marriage and was thus one of the youngest in that family and was deeply loved by everybody. Her roots were very typical of the London Working class. Her father was a lorry driver, her mum an occasional shop assistant and home worker and her Aunt a seamstress at the Famous Harvey Nichols department store in Central London. As a child she was a frequent visitor to the Portobello Road Market where her Aunt Kate lived above the shops and her dad often did extra part time work. She would often talk about the many days out she cherished with her father in the market. Unusually her dad was the child of the locally well known “Nanny Coker “who was the (dare I say illegitimate) Daughter of Henry Fox-Strangeways The 5th Earl of Ilchester and his employee of more humble roots. Nanny Coker had been brought up away from the public gaze in France. On the untimely death of her father, now Lord Illchester, at the age of 58, she was living at an expensive French finishing school. Although she was still a teenager she was promptly disowned by his family and finished her education in the rough but happy streets of North London. This story was a skeleton in the cupboard for the earlier generation of Cokers and was only discovered by Julie when as a child she was doing her French homework and was stunned that “ Nanny “ Coker spoke the language fluently and asked why . Her mother quickly told her to stop asking questions! Julie had a wonderful happy childhood and a solid education. Following school at the age of 17 she easily got a good job working for the local Trustee Savings Bank in Southall. She continued working at the bank until the birth of Adam in 1986 and left with many happy memories of her time there and the people she had worked with. Her life took a tragic turn with the shocking death of her own Father of an aortic aneurysm on Christmas Eve when she was just 18 . This left her as the main breadwinner at the home she shared with her mother Rose and her Auntie Kate at Allenby Road Southall. The following years were extremely tough and Julie always missed her father deeply, as we will always miss her. She made it so that Adam and Emma always knew how great their Granddad Fred was though they never had the pleasure to meet him. A few years later, when she was 27 and he was 23, she met her future husband Jon. Hinchliffe rather randomly at a group event for a spare time club both her and Jon had only attended as friends of other members. Julie used to always remark on the first time she saw Jon in the strangest suit she said she had ever seen! Nevertheless romance bloomed and in quite a short time they were married and blessed with her son Adam. Tragically during this otherwise happy time her mother Rose died of a rapid case of Lung cancer. Julie cherished the fact that at least Rose died having held what was to be her only grandson. As an only Child Julie inherited the house where Aunty Kate was still living. Once Aunty Kate moved into local sheltered accommodation more suited to her advancing years, they moved into her family home in Southall. The home was in need of an upgrade . On the death of her father the mortgage had been paid off by insurance but there had been little money for maintenance in the intervening years. They lived there for a further year with young Adam until the home was finished and they sold it intending to buy a larger house in South London, No 56 Kyrle Road, from Jon's parents. Although this was in fact the place of Jon's birth it had been rented out for the last 15 years and was also in need of considerable remodelling. Surprisingly Jon's parents instead decided to give the property to them and a similar one to his older brother Owen. During this time despite, or partly because, of Jon’s degree in production technology and production management, he was working as a handyman contractor largely for friends and family. He was rapidly learning the practical skills that would later ultimately give him the wherewithal to build the family dream home they now occupy in Coupeville WA. After the happy birth of Emma Rose, on Halloween 1989, the newly-weds had plans to move out of London to where they thought their children would have a better upbringing – the Isle of Wight off England’s Beautiful South Coast. They planned to “ homestead “ i.e to move from property to property renovating (remodelling as we call it) and improving as they went until they had enough money to move and start a property based business. It was by good fortune that Jon's Parents, Arnold and Margaret, had invested what little money they had inherited (them both being only children) into what was then inexpensive Victorian property for letting in an area that experienced tremendous growth in value over the subsequent few decades. This, together with the money from the sale of the Coker home in Allenby road, gave Julie, Jon Adam and Emma Rose the opportunity to not only move to the Isle of Wight but have enough to start what was to become a residential property rental Business. Moving to the Isle of Wight was one of the best decisions the family had ever made. Both Adam and Emma had a wonderful childhood there, loved and supported unconditionally by their mother and father who enjoyed nothing more than being parents; and Jon and Julie shared countless happy memories on the Island, making lifelong friends along the way. On what was to be one of very many happy family trips off the island the Hinchliffes visited Abbotsbury on the Illchester Estate, still owned by Julies relatives, in Dorset . They were struck by the strong likeness of her Father Fred to the family pictures on display, particularly the evident “Coker Nose,” of which Adam and Emma are also proud owners. Possibly brought on by the sudden death of her mother and a bit of post natal depression Julie sadly developed Agoraphobia and battled with it for over a year before bravely laying it to rest. It was again a very strange thing that on one of Julie’s first trips to combat the disease Julie and Jon visited Cowes on the Isle of Wight and happened to go into Yankee Doodles, a shop that sold specifically American products. The shop was having a lottery promotion with the first prize a trip to New York. They entered and Jon just knew, as he told Julie, that they would win. Sure enough they did and Julie had to go on an Isle of Wight Radio quiz show against some other entrants to secure the prize. Julie always had a wonderful memory and knew so many random facts that her and Jon often won prizes at Quiz nights even against much larger teams . She did indeed win the trip , secured in the final round by correctly identifying the flavour of American Jelly beans! Despite her battle, the agoraphobia was still a problem and Julie nearly backed out of the holiday but tough Love from Jon forced her to face her fears. The trip was a great success – a second honeymoon even - and it set in place the desire for the American dream. They have since learned that America is the land between New York and Los Angeles not including either city! As the children passed through the Isle of Wight school system the family bought, renovated, then let out half a dozen houses there. They lived mainly off the rental income which was not that much but they were very happy in the 5 bedroom detached house 140 A Carisbrooke Road that Jon had seriously remodelled from a 3 bedroom “ chalet bungalow . Here the family was lucky in anticipating the market and again house prices increased considerably making them quite asset rich. In a move that may yet prove successful they further borrowed and invested some of this asset value into purchasing the former military barracks - Northwood Camp - and constructing a new military history museum. After some issues, the museum is currently due to re-open under new management as a charitable museum – the Museum of Conflict History and Remembrance. We plan to include an authentic “Forties” dinner which we know Julie would have loved. Since the New York trip and a month long holiday to Disneyland in California, the idea of moving again, but this time to the USA, became a firm dream for the family. It was universally decided that the best time to do this, for the children, was between high school and university. It is actually quite hard for a family from England to move here with permanent residency rather than a visa based on operating a business, which would fail to cover the children or anyone at all if the business stopped trading. They discovered a Visa called the EB5 which involved a significant “at risk” investment in a business that could be showed to result in the employment of at least ten Americans in a specific area – in our case SODO Seattle. Money was borrowed and invested and the ball was rolling. Things took so long thanks mainly to bureaucracy, that the family ended up delaying the permanent move until Emma had finished her bachelor’s degree at the University of Portsmouth three years later . Adam was working for a local supermarket at the time so he was more flexible in terms of moving. They had settled on Coupeville by narrowing down the search using a website called “find your spot dot-com and a very happy “ Third Honeymoon “ trip around this general area. Although the full family move was not completed until under a year ago Jon had bought a lot, from the now good family Friend Darrell Wallen, in 2010 . He has been building the Family dream home on it ( with help both physical and with advice ) for over three years. The family received the final certificate of occupancy in May just before her death. She was so looking forward to settling down finally and being able to share some of that happiness with friends and family, it is a deep tragedy that her dream was not to be enjoyed for long but at least she did attain it. Julie had been very happy with the finished home and the people she met locally. She loved being around Adam and Jon in the house, which she made a home, and close to Emma who lives in Seattle where she has just finished her master’s degree at the University of Washington and is now moving on to the PHD. She knows that this would not have been possible without the support of her mum. Julie spent many weeks in the city visiting Emma and always enjoyed meeting her daughter’s friends and making a fuss of them. She was extremely proud of both her children. Adam had settled in well in The States and she had seen him grow into a wonderful young man. He quickly secured a job at the local care home where he remains a valued member of staff. She was the centre of the Hinchliffe family, a devoted and wife and mother. She will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

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Thoughts

My mum has gone away ! My mum has gone away, I wish she'd never left, If she had stayed a little longer This pain she would prevent This pain inside my heart, This pain inside my head, She'd take me in her loving arms And put a smile back there instead I miss my mothers smile, I miss my mothers skin, But most of all I miss her warmth and the love she bore within The love she had for me, my dad and brother too, My mum is my best friend, It's tough to struggle through To struggle through this loss, To grasp she isn't there, I sit and look around the house And feel her everywhere I feel her in the walls, In every single room, The cut is just too deep when I realize it's not true My mum has gone away, And no one can replace Her support, her charm, her joy Gone to their final resting space My mum has gone away And part of me's gone too My mum is my best friend, What am I now to do? My best to make her proud, My best to remain strong, To keep her memory vibrant, and live on and on and on My mum has gone away. I'll think of her each day. Smiling, laughing, joking mum and I, us two. Mummy you've gone away I wish it wasn't true I hope you always know just how much that I love you. Emma Hinchliffe .
Jonathan
8th May 2017
Drove past the restaurant on " Blueberry hill " we eat at previously and experienced great sadness again . I suppose that's how life is and will always be . Emma and Adam are both doing well ! Emma has secured an internship in film and is a shoe in to get onto a non profit run course later this year and has a new home in a better area to move into also l Adam has got out of Careage and it seems got straight into a new job at Christopher's in Coupeville which is much less tough and a happier place to be . I am finally confident that the " Tank Museum " is in good hands at last and am taking a significant role there myself . We all miss you greatly but want you to be proud of our achievements which would not have been possible without your support for all the past years . Love You !
Jonathan
5th June 2015
I have known her for over 20 years as an amiable and good-hearted lady. Her kindhess and a down to earth approach to life would be greatly missed. I shall remember her generosity, our talks and sence of fairness with fondness. Rest in peace and it has been great to have met you. Emil
Emil
19th April 2015
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