A FORMER Howells School in Denbigh pupil who looked after a long forgotten show trophy for 50 years has died at the age of 104.

Rhianon Hardy who emigrated across the Atlantic to North Bay, Ontario, Canada, before moving to Sarasota, Florida, died peacefully at home after a long illness on Sunday, February 11.

Rhianon, who is survived by her husband of 63 years, Pat, aged 94, was born in 1919 into a farming family at Bodtegir Farm, Llanfihangel GM, near Cerrigydrudion. She later moved to Plas Ucha, Whitford, near Holywell .

After graduating from Howells School Denbigh, now  Myddelton College, with a nursing degree, she worked at St Alfege’s Hospital in Greenwich, London, where she met Pat, a physical therapist.

During the war years 1939-1945, Rhianon volunteered with the British Red Cross.

Following their marriage in 1961, Rhianon and Pat moved to Ghana, Africa where Rhianon was a Charge Nurse for the United Africa Company before moving to Ontario, Canada, and then to America in 1969 and settling in Sarasota, Florida.

Rhianon remained very proud of Wales and her Welsh roots. She maintained her connections in Rhyl and St Asaph and across North Wales and became very active in the Gulf Coast St David’s Welsh Society where she played a key role as secretary for 18 years, and she was awarded the honour of ‘Welsh Person of the Year’ in 2009.

For many years Rhianon was also a celebrated Bard of the Welsh National Eisteddfod regularly speaking on stage as the representative of Cymru a’r Byd (Wales International) which connects Welsh people across the world. 

Rhianon looked after the 1915 Ellis trophy, after inheriting it from her father, who won it at the 1920 Cerrigydrudion Show. Having celebrated her 100th birthday, she decided to return the trophy to the show in 2019 after nearly a centenary.

Show organisers said at the time that the trophy’s history was “unbelievable” [it had travelled the world with Rhianon] and they were honoured to have it back.

The cup’s historic significance relates to its original sponsor, Thomas Ellis of Penyfed, Llangwm, who donated it to the show in August 1915.

Close friend Brian Davies, of Deganwy, former director of Wales Development International, said: "Rhianon always used to stay with friends in Rhyl, on Grange Road, when she visited and spoke as a Bard at the National Eisteddfod.

"She was a truly exceptional lady, welcoming to everyone, tirelessly volunteering on behalf of Wales and the Welsh Society, and greatly admired and loved by all who knew her.

"She will be fondly remembered and sadly missed by her many friends in Wales and America."

On her 100th birthday, Rhianon received congratulation letters from Queen Elizabeth II, and from The President of the United States, and also from the First Minister for Wales.

She enjoyed dancing, social occasions with the St David’s Society, and vacationing worldwide, especially on cruises.

Brian has known Rhianon and Pat since 1990 when he was seconded to the USA  with Wales Development International (part of the old WDA) to try to attract US companies into Wales. 

"I had read an article in the Welsh newspapers there, Yr Ninnau and Y Drych, about Rhianon being a prominent figure in the Welsh Societies in America, and especially in Florida which was part my 10 state territory," Brian said.

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"I thought the Welsh Societies would be a good way of networking to change the still-lingering old perceptions of Wales being coal mining and sheep, and to spread the word of the modern world-class Wales of aerospace, technology, bio-medicine, electronics, optical fibres etc.

"My initial phone call to Rhianon was memorable and we often laughed about it over the years. She assumed I was from Cardiff and was a little less than enthusiastic, however when she found out I was from North Wales, and specifically Holywell, and that I used to walk as a child (with my mother) past Rhianon's former home farm, Plas Ucha, in Whitford, we became special friends."