My mother, Ann Thomas, who has died aged 88, began writing poetry
when she was six, although she did not produce her first book of poetry,
A Safe House, until 1996. Her second book, All Summer’s Ahead, a poetry
almanac, which I illustrated, was published in 2013. Her poems were
often autobiographical and humorous.
Ann was born in London, daughter of Arthur J Davis, an architect, and his wife, Rona (nee Lee); her mother, star-struck, left home for California, though she later returned to Britain, where she died soon after the beginning of the second world war. “Tired of being bored/ tired of being good/ tired of Cook and Nanny/ and nursery food/ my mother ran away /to Hollywood …”, Ann later wrote in her poem La Fanciulla del West.
Ann was educated at Battle Abbey school in East Sussex, and studied English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (1944-47), where her tutors included Katherine Lee, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Her first job was with the British Council in London, helping to rebuild bombed library collections, and promoting British museums and galleries overseas.
In 1952 she married David Thomas, a former naval officer who went on to study at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. There Ann worked in the university’s Radcliffe library, and administered the Harvard summer school, directed by Henry Kissinger. One would-be student in 1953 was Sylvia Plath, whose application was turned down for being too late. Ann believed this rejection contributed to Plath’s breakdown later that summer.
Later, Ann worked as a medical literature researcher on the psychopharmacology of lithium and rubidium in the treatment of manic-depressive illness. In the 1960s, she was among the first patients to be prescribed lithium, and went on to help clinicians who were lobbying for its use.
In the US, Ann and David raised four children – Mark, Charlotte, Toby and me – in Sneden’s Landing, New York. When David went into advertising, Ann travelled extensively with him. They returned to the Boston area in 1981 before setting up home in Woodstock, Vermont, in 2002. The family spent many happy holidays in their cabin in Denmark, Maine.
In 2010, Ann completed the extensive archives of her father’s work for the Royal Institute of British Architects. His projects included the Ritz and One Aldwych hotels in London, many other landmark buildings in the capital, country houses including Luton Hoo and Polesden Lacey, and the interiors of White Star liners including the Queen Mary and RMS Aquitania. The archives are now housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Ann is survived by David, Mark, Charlotte, Toby and me, and by seven grandchildren, Sophia, Hugh, Matthew, Gabrielle, Christopher, Natalie and Graeme.
Ann was born in London, daughter of Arthur J Davis, an architect, and his wife, Rona (nee Lee); her mother, star-struck, left home for California, though she later returned to Britain, where she died soon after the beginning of the second world war. “Tired of being bored/ tired of being good/ tired of Cook and Nanny/ and nursery food/ my mother ran away /to Hollywood …”, Ann later wrote in her poem La Fanciulla del West.
Ann was educated at Battle Abbey school in East Sussex, and studied English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (1944-47), where her tutors included Katherine Lee, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Her first job was with the British Council in London, helping to rebuild bombed library collections, and promoting British museums and galleries overseas.
In 1952 she married David Thomas, a former naval officer who went on to study at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. There Ann worked in the university’s Radcliffe library, and administered the Harvard summer school, directed by Henry Kissinger. One would-be student in 1953 was Sylvia Plath, whose application was turned down for being too late. Ann believed this rejection contributed to Plath’s breakdown later that summer.
Later, Ann worked as a medical literature researcher on the psychopharmacology of lithium and rubidium in the treatment of manic-depressive illness. In the 1960s, she was among the first patients to be prescribed lithium, and went on to help clinicians who were lobbying for its use.
In the US, Ann and David raised four children – Mark, Charlotte, Toby and me – in Sneden’s Landing, New York. When David went into advertising, Ann travelled extensively with him. They returned to the Boston area in 1981 before setting up home in Woodstock, Vermont, in 2002. The family spent many happy holidays in their cabin in Denmark, Maine.
In 2010, Ann completed the extensive archives of her father’s work for the Royal Institute of British Architects. His projects included the Ritz and One Aldwych hotels in London, many other landmark buildings in the capital, country houses including Luton Hoo and Polesden Lacey, and the interiors of White Star liners including the Queen Mary and RMS Aquitania. The archives are now housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Ann is survived by David, Mark, Charlotte, Toby and me, and by seven grandchildren, Sophia, Hugh, Matthew, Gabrielle, Christopher, Natalie and Graeme.
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