Remembering Christine Spray

With sadness, we received the news of the death of Christine Spray, widow of former Head, Bill Spray, at her home in Oxford.  We will share details of funeral or memorial arrangements when we have them.

John Allinson writes: Christine was a model of kindness, graciousness, discretion, wisdom and goodness. Just as Bill Spray was blessed to have her as his much loved wife, the Leighton Park staff and pupils were blessed to have her as a key member of the strong boarding community.  Her role of Headmaster’s wife cannot have been easy, and one imagines she too had her fair share of the tension that is part of the headmaster’s territory. But she and Bill lived through the challenging years of the 1970s, and Christine was an absolute rock to Bill.

Her hospitality was legendary. It was with generosity that Bill invited housemasters, prefects and heads of department to have their meetings in the Headmaster’s House, but perhaps it was with a bit of cunning on his part too – those meetings were made even more enjoyable by the presence of very nice refreshments! In smaller groups Bill and Christine had regular dinner parties. ‘Masterchef’ would not have been good enough for her.

From their retirement in 1981 throughout the rest of her life, Christine was always keen to have news of life at Leighton Park. She herself had paid a full part of it, enjoying her tennis and the opportunities to play viola in quartets and the school orchestra, leading other ‘ladies of the Park’ in all manner of helpful pursuits – flower arrangements in the Hall, costumes and make-up for plays come readily to mind, as does the possibility that the phrase and concept of ‘ladies of the Park’ is a touch passé now!
It was always wonderful to visit her at her home in Oxford. That’s because she was, quite simply, a wonderful person.
John Allinson