Now the former police secretary from Temple Fortune has just celebrated her 105th birthday at Cuffley Manor care home in Potters Bar with her three daughters and many of her 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren!
Joan was born in 1920 in the new Hampstead Garden Suburb with a Christian upbringing, the daughter of church-going Francis and Beatrice Puffett and a member of St Jude’s Church congregation.
She began her education at Hampstead Garden elementary school, later training at Pitman’s secretarial college in North Finchley as a shorthand-typist and going on work in central London right through the war years.
Her first husband was her next-door childhood sweetheart Albert Hardiman, a close friend of Charlie Chester and his family. They married in 1946 and lived in Urskin Hill opposite Charlie’s house. But Albert died in 1966.
Joan was working as a secretary shorthand-typist at Golders Green police station in 1976 when she met and married Superintendent Joe Jarvis. She was often called to Scotland Yard to take notes during police interviews because of her accuracy and high speed, her eldest daughter Lisa Klein recalls.
“Even two years ago when Mum was 103 we asked her to write something in shorthand,” Lisa said. “She was still able to do shorthand and could read it back.
“Mum had known Charlie Chester for years — the two families were close. Charlie even carried me as a baby to my christening at St Jude’s in 1948.”
Joan was widowed a second time in the 1990s, then met up with Charlie again and often travelled with him to his Sunday night Radio 2 show, Charlie Chester’s Soapbox, broadcast from the BBC studios in Birmingham.
Daughter Lisa, a mum-of-three herself from Shenley, near Borehamwood, revealed: “Mum’s friendship with Charlie caught fire and they married in 1994.
“She was always impressed with his showbiz life. My sister Marguerite and I worked in the theatre at one time and Mum always came to our opening nights.”
Joan married Charlie in the Crypt at Canterbury Cathedral when the radio and TV star lived in Whitstable and was featured in Yours magazine in July 1994, with the headline ‘Cheerful Charlie celebrates by marrying’.
Charlie’s first wife Dorita Langley, who he married in 1939, had died two years before. He moved out to Elstree but still kept in touch with Joan and her family, before finally moving to Kent.
Joan recalls: “My first marital home in The Suburb was opposite Charlie’s house in Urskine Hill — that’s how we met.
“He lived in The Suburb for 30 years before moving away. But he stayed in our house whenever he had to work in London, which became his ‘second home’.
“Little did I know back then that decades later I would be sharing his beautiful home in Kent.”
Charlie was also a talented artist, poet, songwriter and published children’s author, she recalled. He donated the proceeds to his beloved Water Rats showbiz charity for members who have fallen on hard times or in poor health, or for their widows and children.
‘Cheerful’ Charlie Chester, who broadcast almost continuously from the 1940s to the 90s, died aged 83 in June 1997 at the Brinsworth showbiz care home in Twickenham, following a stroke.
Joan’s family has another get-together this Saturday (Oct 25) at the Cuffley Manor home in Potters Bar, where she has been living for six years. She’ll be joined by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who couldn’t make Wednesday’s birthday bash, coming from Hertfordshire, Middlesex, London and as far as Cornwall.
