My sister, Christine Llewelyn, who has died aged 72, was a popular French teacher who inspired pupils with her enthusiasm both for the subject she taught and for life in general.
Born in Aberdare, south Wales, she was the first child of Graham, a mining engineer, and Joyce (nee Young), a biology teacher. Christine attended Porth County grammar school for girls before graduating from Swansea University with a BA in French. Her first teaching posts were in the private sector, at Wycombe Abbey school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and then at the City of London school for girls in central London. However, she then moved to a state school – Ellen Wilkinson school for girls in Ealing, west London – and thereafter was committed to comprehensive education.
A lively member of the staff room, Christine became head of modern languages at Ellen Wilkinson, and had a reputation for getting the best out of her pupils, as well as for having a positive influence on their lives outside of school. Via visits to France she introduced many children to French culture, and many still remember their trips to Marcel Proust’s house in France with great fondness. Her enthusiasm for world cinema and opera were also transmitted to friends of all ages.
Christine retired from Ellen Wilkinson owing to ill health in 1993, but then spent many happy years as companion to her mother, travelling across Europe in search of new opera productions. In recent years she suffered a series of health issues, but bore them all without complaint.
She is survived by her siblings, Myra and me, and by a large extended family of nieces and nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
