In 1955 his future wife, then Sheila Smith (who like Dave came from
Normanton) joined him in Assam where they were married. Appropriately
for a couple who were to spend their early married life on the water,
Dave had proposed while he was on leave in England and holidaying on the
Norfolk Broads. Dave and Sheila were plunged back into the world of
journalism briefly when Assam became the centre of world attention after
the Dalai Lama fled there in 1959 following the uprising in Tibet
against the Chinese regime. The Milners played host to a number of
national newspapermen sent out to from Britain to cover the story.
After some years in Assam Dave and his wife moved to Calcutta to take
up a senior post there with the Inchcape group. He particularly enjoyed
one of the perks of office -- a chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce! When he
finally returned home he was made a director of the company in London.
For the past 12 years sadly Dave had suffered from Alzheimer’s and
spent the last three years of his life in a nursing home where he died
at the age of 76. His brain has now been donated to medical science in
the hope, his widow says, “that some good may come out of his death in
the advancement of research into this pernicious disease.”
He leaves a widow and three children, two boys and a girl.
One of Dave’s particular memories of the Central School was the day
when he along with a group of other prefects were exploring the roof, a
privilege reserved for masters and prefects. He stepped off a rafter and
went straight through the ceiling! Fortunately his fellow prefects
grabbed hold of him before he had fallen right through. But
unfortunately his feet had shot through the ceiling above the room in
which Squeak Weston was supervising those boys who didn’t have school
dinner but took their own lunches. A few minutes later a furious Squeak
shot up to a group of prefects he found standing on the landing. Quick,
he shouted, some wretched boys are up in the roof and one has almost
fallen through the ceiling. Get up there and see if you can find the
culprit. The prefects searched diligently but strange to relate failed
to find the boy responsible . . . |