My friend Agnes Mumford, known as Nan, who has died aged 88, was a late entrant into the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), but epitomised in every area of her life the Quaker encouragement to “live adventurously”.
She was born in Taiwan to Agnes (nee Clewes) and Harold Mumford, who were both British-born medical missionaries. Nan came to Britain aged seven when her father found work as a doctor in the Pontefract area of West Yorkshire. She completed her education at Wakefield high school for girls and then trained as a nurse and midwife at St Mary’s hospital in London, working afterwards at Pontefract general infirmary.
A spiritual experience in mid-career led Nan to train as a Methodist medical missionary. She served for seven years in Sierra Leone, where she was attached to the Nixon memorial hospital; she placed the practical work she offered as a nurse far ahead of any religious input. Spreading the Christian message was not about proselytising, she believed, but loving and supporting everyone with whom she came into contact.
Back problems led to an unexpected end to her work in Sierra Leone. She returned to Pontefract and retrained as a health care visitor. After her retirement, and within the space of five years, she nursed her father and then two sisters until their deaths from cancer. This was a challenging time for Nan, but with characteristic strength, spirit and courage she entered therapy, ultimately qualifying as a counsellor herself, offering empathy and help to many clients at Wakefield Well Women Centre.
At the same time, she was a devoted Methodist lay minister and was delighted recently to receive a 25 years’ continuous service certificate. In later years she was increasingly drawn to the silence, openness and activism of Quakerism.
To the end she held dual membership of both the Methodist church and Quakerism; her forthcoming spiritual memoir, God and All That, was subtitled How I Became a Christian and Left the Church. In fact Nan included church – and everything else – within her generous life. She had a vast circle of friends.
