MRS JAMES YN GANT OED
Llongyfarchiadau mawr iawn ar gyrraedd yr oed arbennig iawn yma. Rydym i gyd yn dymuno diwrnod bendigedig i chi. Ond i’r rhai ohonoch sydd ddim yn nabod Mrs James , dyma beth o’i hanes:
Ganed Morfydd Jones ( fel yr oedd bryd hynny!) ar Orffennaf 18fed 1909 yn Nhreharris ger Merthyr Tudful, yr hynaf o bump o blant. Mae ei chwaer Janet yn 94 oed ac yn byw yn Sheffield!
Gweithio fel glôwr oedd ei thad yng Nglofa’r “Deep Navigation” yn y pentref . Er waetha’r caledi a ddaeth yn sgil y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf pan oedd ei thad yn y fyddin a thrwy sawl streic gan y glowyr, mae Morfydd yn cofio ei phlentyndod fel cyfnod hapus iawn .
Gadewodd Dreharris yn 1925 er mwyn cychwyn ar ei gyrfa fel nyrs, gan weithio yn Ysbyty Moorfields Islington ac yna Ysbyty Frenhinol Casgwent yng Nghasnewydd. Daeth i Gaerdydd yn 1936 i hyfforddi fel nyrs gymunedol/ District nurse, a chyfarfod ei gwr Ieuan James o Droed y Rhiw tra’n gweithio fel nyrs gymuned yng Nghwmaman.
Priododd y ddau yn Eglwys Y Bedyddwyr Brynhyfryd Treharris yn 1941, wythnos yn unig cyn i Ieuan orfod gadael i ymuno â’r Lleng Freninol. Treuliod Mrs James flynyddoedd y rhyfel fel rhan o’r tim meddygol mewn ffatri gwneud arfau yng Nghaerwent ger Casnewydd.
Wedi dwy flynedd yn ymladd yn yr Aifft, daeth Ieuan adref yn ddiogel, a dechreuodd y ddau ar eu bywyd priodasol go iawn yn Nhroedyrhiw. Ganed eu merched Mari a Rhian yno. I fyd addysg yr aeth Ieuan ar ôl y rhyfel, gan ddod yn ôl i Gymru wedi cyfnod o ddysgu yn Lloegr i weithio yn Ysgol Gynradd Parc y Rhath. Aeth Morfydd ymlaen gyda’i gyrfa nyrsio gan weithio yn Ysbyty Felindre ac yna fel “Tutor- Sister” yn yr ysgol hyfforddiant yn Ysbyt Dewi Sant tan ei hymddeoliad yn 1971. Yn ogystal â gwendu ei gwaith cyflogedig fel nyrs, yr oedd hefyd wastad yn rhoi cymorth i anghenion meddygol i lawer yn y gymdogaeth.
Daeth y ddau i fyw i Fôn i fod yn nes at Mari a’r teulu yn 1978, ac ymgartrefu ym Mro Dawel Llanddaniel, gan fwynhau cwmni ffrindiau a theulu o’u hamgylch. Er mai dim ond am saith mlynedd y bu byw Ieuan ym Môn cyn ei farwolaeth yn 1985, roedd wedi gwirioni cael y cyfle i siarad Cymraeg pob dydd yma.
Mae ffydd Morfydd wedi bod yn bwyisg iawn iddi ar hyd ei hoes, ac mae wedi bod yn aelod gweithgar o’r eglwys leol ymhob man y mae wedi byw. Erbyn hyn, mae hi’n aelod o Eglwys y Bedyddwyr Penrallt ym Mangor.
Bellach mae hi’n byw yn Nhyddyn Bach efo Mari a’i gwr Ian ers saith mlynedd, ac yn treulio amser gyda’i mherch Rhian a’i gwr Dave ym Mryste rhyw dair gwaith y flwyddyn. Mae hi’n nain i bump (Tim. Ruth, Jon, Mathew a Mari) ac yn hen nain i dair merch, Lauren, Evie a Kate.
Mae Morfydd dal i gadw’n brysur drwy wneud croeseiriau, darllen a gwau ac yn mwynhau llythyru a chadw mewn cysylltiad â theulu a ffrindiau.
Dymuniadau gorau i chi, Mrs James. Dwi’n siwr y cytunith pawb ei bod yn edrych yn wych, a diolch o galon i Mari ei merch am roi cymorth i roi darlun cyflawn o fywyd Mrs Morfydd James.
Morfydd James or Jones as she was then, was born on July 18th 1909 in Treharris, a mining village near Merthyr Tydfil. Her father worked in the Deep Navigation Colliery in the village. She was the eldest of 5 children, 3 boys and 2 girls (her sister Janet, 94, is still alive and lives in Sheffield).
Morfydd attended the local primary school from the age of 3 and then went on to Quakers Yard Grammar School in 1922, the year it opened. Despite the hardship and poverty during the First World War when her father was away and during long miner’s strikes she remembers her childhood as happy and secure.
On December 18th 1925, she left Treharris to start her nursing career. She spent 2 years in Moorfields Eye Hospital, Islington as a Probationer and then after a period of time at home looking after her invalid mother following the death of her father, she trained as a State Registered Nurse in the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport. She took up a post as Night/Theatre Sister at the Royal Gwent but eventually returned to London to train as a Midwife. In 1936 she came back to Cardiff to train as a District Nurse or Queen's Nurse as they were then called.
Morfydd was a District Nurse in Cwmaman near Aberdare and then in Bedlinog a small village not far from home. It was there that she met her future husband Ieuan James who was from Troedyrhiw. He was called up in 1941 and they were married in Brynhyfryd Baptist Church, Treharris a week before he left to join the Royal Navy.
During the war years she was part of the Hospital Medical Team in a Munitions Factory in Caerwent, near Newport.
Ieuan returned home in 1945 after 2 years in Egypt and they lived in Troedyrhiw where their 2 daughters (Mari and Rhian) were born. He trained as a Primary School Teacher in Cyncoed College in Cardiff and in 1948 they moved to Gloucestershire where he taught in 2 schools. They came back to live in Whitchurch, Cardiff in 1955 where he took up a post in Roath Park Primary School.
Morfydd returned to nursing and worked in the Velindre Hospital for a few years and then as a Sister Tutor in the Nurses Training School in St David's Hospital until her retirement in 1971. As well as her paid nursing jobs she was always ready to help out friends and neighbours who needed nursing care and bathed and attended to the needs of many over the years.
They moved up to Anglesey in 1978 to be nearer Mari and family and settled down in Bro Dawel, Plas Hen Llanddaniel with good neighbours and friends around them. (Ieuan only lived 7 years after coming North but was especially delighted that he had the opportunity to converse in his native tongue daily.)
Her Christian Faith is very important to her and she was an active member of a local church everywhere she lived, as a Sunday School teacher, Sisterhood President etc. She is now a member of Penrallt Baptist Church in Bangor.
She has lived with Mari and Ian in Tyddyn Bach for the past 7 years. Her younger daughter Rhian lives with husband Dave in Bristol and she spends some time with them 2 or 3 times a year. She has 5 grandchildren, Tim and Ruth who are now both married and live in Manchester and London and Jon who is married to Judith and lives in Bristol and Matthew and Mari who live in Kent and London. She has 3 great granddaughters, Lauren, Evie and Kate.
She still keeps busy doing crosswords, reading and knitting and keeps in touch with family and friends by writing regular letters and phone calls and still has many tales to tell about the old days!!
