John Vernon (originally Hans Gerhard Jellinak) passed away recently after a long illness.

After retiring in 1986, John and Dora Vernon came to Israel to join their only daughter in Israel. Their daughter had been here for over 20 years.

Talking to Dora and her daughter, Susan Miller, a few days after the shiva, I was reminded of how I had met John. He helped his granddaughter Roni with her English conversation when she was at high school in Herzliya. Roni asked him then to help other pupils in her class.

Thus was born Esra's tutoring program to help pupils with their English oral bagrut. The program was conceived and carried out by John. Through Esra he found other volunteers who, like himself, were not necessarily proficient in Hebrew. Today there are over 100 volunteer tutors in many towns where Esra has branches.

John joined the Esra executive committee and at one stage ran our golden friendship club.

Dora and John were both in the kindertransport to England. Though they were both from Vienna they never met there. Dora came from a religious background and John from an educated, assimilated family. Dora was sent to a hostel in Harrogate, but left at the age of 17 to run a hostel for Jewish evacuees. However, she returned often to visit her friends at Harrogate as did John who came to visit his sister there. He had been interned on the Isle of Man from October 1940 to February 1941 and was then allowed to join the British army. John was in uniform when Dora met him at Harrogate and it was love at first sight. Although they wanted to marry, being under 21 she needed her parents’ permission which of course, she could not get as they were in Europe. They planned to get married in June 1944, but John postponed it and Dora realized that he was in the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

John was transferred to the interpreter’s pool in the British army and took part in the liberation of Bergen Belsen where he was asked to announce in German and Yiddish –“You are free – the Nazis are defeated”.

He returned to London on leave and they arranged for their wedding on May 7, 1945 which was the day that Churchill announced the end of the war – so they celebrated their wedding outside Buckingham Palace.

John was in publishing and was an editor for Paul Hamlyn publishers and for the magazine of the International Council for Educational Technology. He was also the publication and information officer of the national committee for audiovisual aids and education, and editor of their monthly magazine. He became a lecturer in German and from 1971-1986 was head of the department in languages, liberal and community studies of the Adult College in central London.

In Israel he was appreciated for his articulate, creative personality. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather. He was interested in and knowledgeable about politics and history. As a volunteer in Esra he was dedicated, organized and original. He is still remembered.

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Adele Rubin

Adele Rubin came to Israel in 1951 from Cape Town South Africa after completing a first degree at Cape Town University. Upon marriage to Mike, she left Jerusalem for Tel Aviv. She has 2 children and ...
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