Jeanne Archard grew up in South London, although her school was evacuated to Leatherhead, Surrey, during the Second World War. She was confirmed in the Christian faith as a result of attending church services, mainly for social reasons. But she said that it had little impact on her everyday life. Later, she was fascinated by the clarity of conviction of a couple of young people who spoke one Sunday. To her own ‘amazement’, when the minister called for people to sign a book as a mark of committing their lives to God, she felt compelled to do so. On leaving school, Jeanne took a secretarial training.
Later, she saw the MRA play, The Forgotten Factor, at the Westminster Theatre and was captivated. She started working as a secretary for Roly Wilson on a voluntary basis with MRA. Betty Rainbow and Maisie Poulton were school friends who through Jeanne also gave their lives to God. Both worked with MRA for their entire lives and they remained firm friends.
Later, Jeanne lived and worked in Paris.
She was clearly a vivacious person. So much so that the sound of her laughter carried through a window to a young man called John Faber who later wrote: ‘Looking out of the window one day I saw a young woman in the street laughing with her friends and thought, that’s the girl I would like to marry. And I did – some ten years later!’
The marriage took place in April 1963 and their daughter Susan was born three years later. John and Jeanne were together for 46 years until John died some weeks after rescuing a teenage girl from the sea when she got into difficulties swimming.
John and Jeanne were very much a team. They travelled together and worked together. They loved India and visited many times with Susan – and they were responsible for finding and buying Kumaram, the MRA property in Mumbai. With Geoffrey and Fiona Daukes they hosted the MRA residential centre at 26 Catherine Place, Westminster. It cannot always have been easy having two families sharing a home but they always appeared to be working harmoniously together, welcoming guests from many parts of the world. When John was appointed Secretary to the Oxford Group (MRA’s legally registered name) they did much of the work together. They saw the role of Secretary as being primarily a pastoral one, and they would often undertake road trips in their bright red British Motor Corporation Maxi car to visit MRA teams around the country.
Later, they lived in various locations on England’s south coast, building deep friendships with people wherever they were. They organised many train and coachloads of people to see the plays in the Westminster Theatre, always with the goal of helping people to find a faith and purpose for their lives. Amidst her busy life, Jeanne also found the time to be the Secretary of the Barnabas Charitable Trust.
John had always been involved in publishing and together they produced a short book, published by Caux Books, called Fear or Faith, you can choose. In this, Jeanne writes movingly of the struggles that she and her family had been through, particularly with serious mental health issues, and of how she had to accept that even when her prayers were not immediately answered she could find the grace to cope. Those who knew her will identify with her sentence: ‘I have had to learn how and when to keep silent [when John was suffering from severe depression] rather than spilling out everything that I am thinking and feeling – and that has not been easy.’
Jeanne will be remembered as a caring friend to many with her zest for life and her passion to serve her God. Susan writes: ‘Faithful and wise friend, warm and generous hostess, a lovely lady – these are the things most people have written to me about Jeanne.’
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