DEIRDRE HAMILTON:DEIRDRE HAMILTON, who has died aged 90, was a clerical worker and home-maker. In retirement she pursued her interest in the arts, helped to raise money for charity and travelled to the four corners of the Earth.
A family friend David Jacobson described her as an "example to all of how to retire and not grow old". She remained young "in mind and heart", he said.
Born in Dublin in 1920, she was the youngest of five children of William Abraham ("Boss") Sinclair and his wife Frances (née Beckett). When she was a child the family moved to Kassel in Germany. She enjoyed her years there, but with the rise of Hitler it was no longer a safe place for a family headed by a Jewish father. In 1933 the Sinclairs returned to Ireland.
Four years later Boss Sinclair died of TB. The family then spent some time in South Africa, where Deirdre's brother Morris was tutor to a family in Graff Reinet in the Karoo.
Returning to Dublin, she moved in bohemian circles and enjoyed the company of writers and painters. Her cousin Sam Beckett, then an aspiring writer, was particularly close to her sister Peggy.
She met and married George Morrow and they had a son, Roly, in 1945; they later separated. She worked hard to make ends meet and eventually met Alex Hamilton, whom she married; their son Nicholas was born in 1950, followed by Peter in 1952.
Her husband was offered a job as a teacher in a school in Uganda and they set up home in a village called Mbarara. Conditions were primitive and lions prowled the garden after dark. She faced many challenges, not least of which was lighting the notoriously troublesome Kuni stove - but she took it all in her stride.
In the mid-1960s, the family returned to Monkstown in Dublin.
She retired from her job with an engineering company at 60 and threw herself into art, music and travel. Her mother had been an accomplished artist and she took lessons to improve her own painting skills. She exhibited her work locally and continued to paint into her 80s.
She had learned to play the piano as a child, but as an adult lacked the time to practise. Regaining her proficiency, she resumed playing for her own enjoyment on her baby grand.
In 1985 she set off to trek the Himalayas, having prepared by walking up and down the steps on Killiney Hill. She later travelled to South America, visiting among many other places Machu Picchu. She also took a flight to view the famous Nazca Lines in Peru.
She undertook a charity walk for Multiple Sclerosis Ireland in 1989, a 320km walk through France, making new friends along the way. Since it was the bicentennial year of the French Revolution, the walk ended at the Bastille, where she was proud to be presented with a medal.
She completed two more charity walks - one along the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage trail and another in South Africa.
In 1995 she embarked on a trip around the world, visiting relatives and friends in the United States, Cook Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries.
At the age of 83 she braved freezing cold, gales, wind and waves to see the beautiful ice formations and wildlife in Antarctica.
In recent years she stayed closer to home, but managed to visit the US, France and Switzerland as well as, for the first time, Cyprus.
Her sons Roly, Nicholas and Peter survive her.
Deirdre Hamilton: born February 23rd, 1920; died March 11th, 2010.