College Record 2017

He was a very, very nice man. Calm (but only on the surface, he said), gentle and
kind, a man who served his friends and College well. He died peacefully where he
wanted to, in his armchair at Shucklets.
His substantial bequest to the College will fund a Garton Garden Assistant (to
increment our gardening staff), an increased bursary for the Creative Arts Fellowship
(to be renamed the Geoffrey Garton Creative Arts Fellowship), and a sum for art
work for the College and to help fund College concerts. In addition, a beautiful
birdbath in the Bishop’s House Garden will be renovated and inscribed with Geoff’s
name.
Jim Kennedy
Postscript
A few years ago we cat-sat in a medieval torre in Trastevere, on the west bank of
the Tiber in Rome. The owner, whom at that stage we had not met, returned after
being on a field trip with students, and we dined together that night: ‘So what is your
Oxford college?’ ‘Wolfson,’ we replied. ‘Do you know Geoff Garton?’ ‘Yes indeed.’
Then he told us: ‘Geoff was attached to my father’s lab in the States. My mother
went into labour with me, and called my father to take her to the local maternity unit.
He was too busy with an experiment, and asked Geoff to drive us there, which he
duly did. I suppose he is a sort of honorary midwife to me. Dad got the Nobel Prize
later ...’
To Ellen and myself, Dear Reader, it was a sort of Anthony Powell moment.
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