Trove Tuesday - Another Sad Death, A Sad Coincidence

I was contacted recently by someone who had read my post about my (great) Uncle Ricky and the sad death of his father, Frederick Arthur Fitts. Frederick had four brothers and this lady married a descendant of the eldest brother.

Constance (far right) with all eight children

This prompted me to look at the family again.

Frederick Arthur Fitts was the first husband of my great grandmother Constance Edith TERRY (1871-1925). 

They had four children: 

Frederick Ernest Terry Fitts (1893-1983), 

Dorothy Louise Fitts (1895-1993), 

Rupert Alfred Fitts (1897-1983) and 

Thelma Millicent Fitts (1901-c1990).

The widowed Constance married my great grandfather, Lewis GARRETT in April 1905. I’ve written about him a few times, including here.

Some of the combined Fitts/Garrett family. Uncle Ru is on
the far left, his 2nd daughter Dorothy standing 2nd from the
right and seated from L-R, his son Des and daughter Barbara.
My mum is the baby. Marjorie is not in the photo.

Constance then had another four children with Lewis: 

Noel Raikes Garrett (1906-1981), 

my grandfather John Raikes Garrett (1908-1992), 

Phyllis Gertrude Garrett (1910-1968) and 

Shirley Constance Garrett (1912-1978).

All eight children were fairly close, and we grew up with heaps of aunts and uncles.

All eight children married but Rupert Fitts was the only one of the first four children to have children. 

Uncle Ru had three daughters and a son. I only remember the son, Uncle Des.

His eldest child (my mum’s first cousin), Marjorie Alice Joy Fitts met the same fate as her grandfather – she drowned, aged just 38 years – the same age as her grandfather was when he drowned.

Marjorie and her 11-year-old son Paul went to the aid of her eldest son, Alan in the Shoalhaven river on New Years Day 1958.

So, one blog post about a sad death has led me to write another about a similar and related sad death.