RNPA members have been shocked and saddened by the sudden death of membership secretary Stephen Lawrence King late on Thursday, 1st December. He was 78.

Earlier in the evening ‘Steve’ and a few of his friends from the close where he lived had gone for their regular monthly night out at Tachbrook Working Men’s Club near Leamington Spa.

“On returning home he had taken off his coat and scarf, remarked how cold it was outside and that he hadn’t had to buy a round,” said his wife Hilary, the Association’s Newsletter editor. “He had just sat down when he passed away. At first I thought he had fainted, then I realised he had gone. It was as sudden as that.”

On hearing of Steve’s passing former RNPA Chairman Tony Darbyshire said: “Steve was the backbone of our membership and a stalwart for us all. Sadly another good man and friend has left us.”

And fellow photographer Mike Gilbert commented: “Steve was one of nature’s gentlemen. He had a kind and thoughtful demeanour which shone through during the time we were on Phot One’s course at RNAS Lossiemouth in 1966, and I knew then I had made a friend for life. We particularly enjoyed our time together during the RNPA Reunion week in Gibraltar, and he and Hilary were perfect guests when they stayed with us in Tullibody whilst they were touring Scotland on holiday. Steve will be greatly missed.”

Steve and Hilary first met in 1969 while working as naval photographers at the Fleet Photographic Unit at Fraser Gunnery Range. But it was to be another 30 years before they bumped into one another again at the 1999 RNPA Reunion In the Victory Club in HMS Nelson, Portsmouth. An exchange of letters after the event resulted in the couple getting together, with Steve eventually proposing marriage on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth2 overlooking Hamilton harbour in Bermuda in 2001, and a year later they married at Warwick Registry Office.

The photograph of Steve with Hilary was taken on our visit to the RNLI headquarters in Poole when we held our reunion in Bournemouth.

A more detailed obituary will appear in this News section and a future edition of the RNPA Newsletter.