THE family of a Wirral teacher who died from a form of brain cancer has paid tribute to a 'wonderful mother'.
Wendy Jane Houston passed away peacefully at her home last Wednesday, July 3, surrounded by her sons, daughter, brother, mother, nephew and niece, just three weeks before her 60th birthday.
She had been diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme out of the blue in May and told she had no more than two months left to live. It is described as the most aggressive and most common type of cancer that originates in the brain and has a very poor prognosis for survival. Initial signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are said to be 'non-specific'.
A tribute from her children Adam, Mathew and Jenny, read: "We're utterly devastated by the loss of our wonderful mother but we take comfort in knowing that she lived a happy, meaningful life and that she died peacefully at home."
Wendy attended Mendell Primary School from 1968-1975 and then Wirral Grammar School for Girls from 1975-1982, before going to university and, later, to teacher training college. She gave birth to triplets - Adam, Matthew and Jenny - in the Liverpool Women's Hospital in 1998.
Wendy worked as a teacher at several local schools, including Breckfield Primary School in Liverpool, Leasowe Primary School and most recently Cambridge Road Primary School in Ellesmere Port. She retired during Covid and worked as a teaching assistant at the school that her children attended, Christ the King Catholic Primary School in Bromborough, until earlier this year.
The school has recently decided to name its new building 'The Houston Hub' in memory of her.
After retiring, she also tutored students in her home office in evenings and on the weekends, giving free tuition to students whose parents could not afford to pay.
In her retirement she had hoped to volunteer as a teacher at schools in the Third World and to become a dyslexia specialist (inspired to help people like her son, Matthew, who suffers from severe dyslexia).
After the death of her husband in 1999, Wendy raised the couple's three children by herself. Matthew is a technology entrepreneur, Adam is a human rights lawyer and Jenny is a psychologist in Sheffield.
Her family now plans to set up The Wendy Houston Foundation with a view to sending donations to schools in the Third World and funding dyslexia support for students.
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