My friend Lynn Donkin, who has died aged 95, was a teacher of children with special educational needs and a campaigner for social reform. She never forgot her former pupils with whom she would correspond for decades afterwards.
Born Helen Welsh in Newcastle upon Tyne, to Josephine (nee Davison) and Richard Welsh, an engineer, Lynn was the third of four siblings.
At the onset of the second world war, she was evacuated aged eight to Richmond, North Yorkshire, for a year. It was not a happy experience and her memories of seeing other distressed children never left her.
After Gateshead grammar school, she gained her teaching diploma at the University of London (1950), then undertook further training in Sheffield in teaching special educational needs. She later gained a BA degree with the Open University (1974).
Lynn began her career as an SEN teacher in south London in 1952, at Aspen House Open Air school on Brixton Hill, where she stayed until 1977. She then joined Elfrida Rathbone senior girls and primary school in Peckham, until retirement in 1995.
In 1955 Lynn married Colin Donkin, a civil servant, and they settled in Dulwich. For their honeymoon they rode on Colin’s motorbike to France. Lynn was a maternal figure known to neighbours’ children as “Nana Lynn”, and always put the needs of others before her own.
With a mischievous sense of humour and a taste for fine dining, Lynn delighted in bringing people together. As her neighbour, I experienced her generous hospitality.
She was passionate about the arts, in particular ballet, and was a supporter of the Royal Ballet, Royal Opera and Sadler’s Wells. Her bookshelves creaked under the weight of literary classics, and although an avowed atheist, she studied philosophy and religion.
An avid Guardian reader, she was well versed in current affairs and supported a range of worthy causes, in particular the assisted dying movement. She was devastated at the outcome of the Brexit referendum.
Lynn campaigned and wrote letters to MPs and newspapers in support of the assisted dying bill. She also promoted other causes such as Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam and the Red Cross.
Colin died in 2004. Lynn is survived by a niece and a nephew.
