My wife, Jo Mears, who has died suddenly of an internal haemorrhage aged 49, chose a career as a journalist because of her curiosity about people. She began writing for the Guardian's Family section in 2007 with an article about having a sister, Anna, born when Jo was 16. She went on to write further features and also interviewed celebrities for the column My Family Values.
Jo was born in the village of Norton Fitzwarren near Taunton, Somerset, to Peter, later a colonel in the Royal Corps of Transport, and Ann, a nurse in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. She was an army child, moving with the family between Britain and Germany; she went to St Margaret's boarding school in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and a college at Rheindahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. From there she went to University College London in 1981 to study English and German. Her love of life, enthusiasm and energy gave her the determination to then start a career in journalism in London.
She moved from news and features agencies, including Reuters, and magazines to the Mirror but her independent streak led her to start work as a freelance in the late 1980s. We met at this time and settled together in south London, marrying in Wandsworth in 1996. We moved to Dorking in Surrey in 1997 and had two children, Theo and Cecily.
Taking an MA in creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2006 invigorated her writing. Her nexproject was to write a memoir of her army childhood, time at boarding school and the complications of family life.
Active in the local church and primary school, where she taught writing classes, she nurtured new and existing friendships and was unfailing in her kindness. She was a testament to her belief that every life is unique and of interest.
I survive her, along with our children and Jo's parents.