Ian Preston
(1953 - 1996)

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General Details

Name:	Mr Ian Preston
Gender:	Male
Age:	42 years old
Lived:	Thursday, 31 December 1953 - Monday, 27 May 1996

My Story

Ian Robert Preston was born in Greater Manchester. Growing up, he lived at home with his father Haldane Preston and Step Mother Edith Preston.

My father Ian was born hearing, but in infancy due to a rare blood condition he lost his hearing. Due to this My father attended at schools for the deaf in Denton, Old Trafford and later in Cheadle at the Royal School For The Deaf.

Being a brainy kind of chap with a taste for adventure he could often be found in his bedroom building allsorts of wacky inventions and racing though Stockport Streets with his friends.

On reaching his teenage years my father began visiting different deaf clubs across the country in search of new friends and adventures. It was on one particular visit to Birmingham that my father met my Mother, Carol Sanford.

My father quickly upped sticks and moved to Birmingham, much to the frustration of his family, to be near to my mother. After a while they married and remained in the West Midlands, adopting an Old English Sheepdog Puppy by the name of 'Nappy'. My father had also made many friends by this time through the Bimingham deaf community.

Around 5 years later I was born. My father doted on me, spoiling me with presents and pets, by the age of three we were sharing our home with a dog, a cat, guinea pigs and 4 terrapins. He instilled in me a love of animals, education and music. Depite being deaf, my father loved music, particularly the Beatles and Wings. Some of my earliest memories are of dancing in the livingroom of our home to Wings and Duran Duran. He would put music on and tell me sing for him.

My father was also a popular and exuberent character. At some of the many parties he and my mother would attend he could often be found gathering people around him to listen to a long tale about some of the scrapes he had gotten into in his youth or how he'd 'put it to the man'. He saw himself not only as a man's man, but as a family man too.

3 years after I was born my father had undertaken an electricians course in Exeter. Being naturally gifted at electronics and engineering he sailed through the course, gaining a job where he was responsible for maintaining machinary and electonics in hospitals. My sister was also born at this time and my father was thrilled. He had always wanted 2 daughters.

Unfortunately shortly after this time my mother was seriously ill and had to undergo a life-threatening operation. This left her severely disabled and my father ditched his career to stay at home and look after his family. Also at this time my father's brother, Peter whom my father had looked up to more than anyone else, passed away suddenly which left my father devestated. We moved up to Greater Manchester to be closer to his family.

My father then became ill himself, suffering fom a rare genetic condition which meant that he had trouble lifting up his feet. This conditon worsened and my father could no longer walk without the use of walking sticks. My father continued to look after my mother and all the time encouraged me to strive high, he would take me and my friends out late at night to star gaze and photograph celestial bodies, he tried (in vain) to teach me about engineering. It was during this time that my father gradually became more introverted, although he was a passionate campaigner for the rights of disabled people.

On 27th May 1996 my father committed suicide. He left no note. He never told anyone that he planned to do this. I can only guess at why he made this decision and nearly 13 years on I still struggle to understand why this gentile and passionate human-being had to leave us. It has taken me over 10 years to even speak about his death. I loved him so much and there is a bottomless canyon which cuts through my soul where he used to be.

Depression is often bandied about as being an 'excuse' in society, however for most it is a geniuine illness which everyday senselessly costs the lives of so many, with young men being the most prone to attempting or committing suicide.

Latest Tributes

2 / 2 tributes

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From: May07

Still thinking of you, as ever. God bless Dad xxx

From: sairbear

I never got the chance too meet you Ian, but you are a very loved and missed person. You are never far from your daug...

From: lozza

your wife is safe, your kids have grown,you were the most out going person that i had known . ill always remember...

Biography

Fathers Name:	Haldane Preston
Mothers Name:	Madeline Vance
Spouse's Name:	Carol Preston
Children's Names:	May, April
Siblings Names:	Peter, Alison, Andrew
Country of Birth:	United Kingdom
Country of Residence:	United Kingdom
City of Residence:	Manchester
Occupation:	Engineering
Marital Status:	Married
Religion:	Agnostic