My mother, Pamela Johns, who has died aged 85, was born in the year that the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act gained royal assent. It was only then that women had equal voting rights to men. She never forgot or let any of my three sisters or her 14 granddaughters forget how important it is for women to exercise their right to vote. On one occasion she even persuaded the staff at the hospital where she was recovering from a major operation to go to the polling station.
My mother's life was defined by education. She was born in Catford, south London, and won a scholarship to Bromley County Grammar school for girls, where she became head girl in 1945. She went on to study geography at Bedford College, University of London, graduating in 1949. Her teaching career began at Croydon High school for Girls (now Croydon High school). Margaret Adams, the headteacher, wrote: "Her strength of character and charming personality, combined with her ability as a teacher and wide interests, will ensure her success in anything she undertakes." This comment showed great foresight, summing up Pamela and her approach to life.
She never failed in the constant encouragement she gave us to do our best in everything we did. She maintained family discipline with her favourite saying of "life isn't fair" to resolve any family disputes. She returned to teaching when my brother reached school age in 1970 to Blackheath high school and later to Farringtons school, Chislehurst. Her dedication to her family was never compromised, yet there was equal commitment to her pupils. Evenings were spent helping us with homework, marking books, preparing lessons followed by ironing into the early hours of the morning. She was a wonderful role model.
When she and my father moved to Sheffield in 1982 Pamela embarked on an Open University degree. Her dedicated approach was rewarded with a first in English. She combined this with voluntary work teaching adult literacy. Retiring to Winchester in 1998, she was a volunteer in the constituency office of the local Liberal Democrat MP, Mark Oaten, who remembers her "calm and caring approach".
She is survived by my father, Richard, her husband of 59 years, my sisters, Susan, Katharine and Lucy, my brother, Tim, and me, her 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.