Starkey George

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Biografie:
George Starkey 1900-1974
George Starkey died suddenly on 1 October 1974 while walking on the Fells near Patterdale. A fortnight earlier I had heard him proposing an important resolution at an ABMSAC: Committee Meeting and I never thought, talking to him over tea afterwards, that I should never see him again.
George was elected to the AC in 1933 at a time when he and Mary, his wife, herself later to be a President of the LAC, were doing many of the classic Alpine routes. After the war, in the decade 1948/58 he organised a whole series of ABMSAC Meets which were extremely popular and pleasurable.
My wife and I started walking and climbing in the Swiss Alps, with guides, in 1947, and in the British Isles under the leadership of George and Mary, in 1952. George was an admirable leader, always sure of his route, his stance, and his safety. I never climbed with him in the Alps but I had much valuable help from him about climbs I could do with enjoyment.
As the years went by George became a force in mountain administration. He was Honorary Treasurer of the BMC for 20 years and a very good Secretary of the ABMSAC for 10. He was a man of complete integrity and I never knew him to compromise on any matter of principle. When he became President of the ABMSAC he never tried to dominate his Committee but he always saw to it that after proper consideration a final decision was reached.
When I think of George I recall the devotion he brought to everything he undertook. He had no use for pretentiousness or humbug but he was by nature kind and sympathetic to all he worked with or met. I feel a better man for having known him. As Philip Andrews said when seconding the resolution that George be elected President of the ABMSAC, “when I think of what George has done, and what he is as a man, I can only say that he is pure gold”.
A. W. Barton
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 80, 1975, Seite 301


Geboren am:
1900
Gestorben am:
01.10.1974