Life Stories
Reginald Edwin Price
Reginald Edwin Price (1947 BA English Language and Literature) died on 31 August 2022 aged 96.
As part of the wartime generation, Reg Price served in the Royal Navy where he was selected to be trained in radar, was promoted to be responsible for the maintenance of ships’ radar and saw active service in the Pacific. After completion of his national service, Reg came up to Keble in 1947. At Keble he read the English Language (philology) course. He captained the College soccer team, played hockey and squash, and edited the Clocktower. On graduation he was awarded a University Research Scholarship at Birmingham University.
Reg (middle, middle row) with the Keble football team,
who were Champions in the 1948/49 season
At Birmingham, Reg lectured and contributed by thesis to Professor Alan Ross’s work on the Anglo-Saxon Gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels and was awarded his MA degree.
Reg taught English at a Chester boys’ grammar school then moved into educational administration, spending several years as County Assistant Education Officer in Wiltshire, followed by a post as Deputy and then Director of Education for Birkenhead. His career culminated with a post as Director of Education for Wirral. He also served on the Petroleum Industry Training Board.
Reg married Marian Needham, a graduate of Liverpool University in 1950. She died just three months before Reg, after 71 years together. They had three children.
Reg during his retirement years
On retirement Reg and Marian had a farming interest in Suffolk and after spending a few years in Ireland, they lived in the Chester area.
Kindly provided by daughter Ailsa Urwin