Dave Westaway (1946-2014)

I was saddened to hear that old boys' books and comics collector Dave Westaway passed away on 29 November at his home in Exmouth, peacefully in his sleep, aged 67.

His battle with cancer had begun with when it infected his kidneys, the loss of which meant regular dialysis; later it spread to his pancreas and bones leading to further operations and blood transfusions. He compared these battles to a "great big organic game of chess" between himself and death. Recently he had been writing a book, Human Soul Evolution.

I knew Dave as a correspondent through his work for the All Devon Comic Collectors Club, a spin-off of the South West Comic Collectors Club, which he set up in 2004 as a way to collate and reprint old newspaper strips, including Garth, Romeo Brown, Matt Marriott, Tug Transom, Paul Temple, Jane and various others. He continued to run the club until 2011 when poor health led him to pass on the baton of administration.

He was also well known in Dan Dare circles and as a collector of old boys' papers—I bought stacks of old copies of Boy's Friend from him fifteen-or-so years ago which was one of the prompts for compiling the Story Paper Index.

Dave, who was born in London on 31 December 1946, married Julia A. Storey in London on 30 June 1973 and celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2013. He is survived by Julia, their three children, Louise, Coral and Kirk, and grandchildren.

John Ridgway has written a short tribute at Down the Tubes.

(* Photo from Dave's Facebook page.)