obituaries
Paying our respects to members of OURFC who have passed away. Thank you to family members and loved ones for sending these obituaries to us.
If you would like to add an obituary for your loved one or teammate, please get in contact with Zed at admin@ourfc.org and we will add them to this page.
william (will) cooke
(1954-2024)
William in 2022
William (more commonly known as Will or Willy) Cooke passed away recently at the age of 70. Although born in Ghana, where his father was working at the time, he was an Oxfordshire boy – having attended Lord Williams’s Grammar (as it was then) School in Thame and was an England Schools final trialist. He also excelled at tennis.
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A full back, he was a member of OURFC throughout his time at Oxford, 1973-1976.
A broken jaw in successive Michaelmas terms scuppered his hopes of challenging for a Blue in 1974 and 1975.
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He won Cuppers with Teddy Hall, was a member of the Greyhounds team that won the Oxfordshire Cup in 1976 and played tennis for the university.
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Graduating in the summer of 1976, he was determined to play in the Varsity Match. Therefore he enrolled to study for a further degree at the university, starting autumn 1976, and duly played against Cambridge in December of that year.
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Mission achieved, he left Oxford straight after the Varsity match and spent the rest of the season playing in the French First Division Championship for Begles in Bordeaux (the team is now known as Union Bordeaux Bègles).
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After a three year stint working in the City he moved to Pavia, a university town close to Milan, in 1981 and became an English teacher. He played and coached the local rugby team.
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He spent the rest of his life in Italy as a teacher and died from the effects of Alzheimer’s.
Excerpt from the 1976 Varsity Programme
kate tiller
(1949-2024)
OURFC are sad to report the death of Dr Kate Tiller OBE DL 1949-2024.
A founding member of Kellogg, Kate taught and wrote many books on Local History. She served as Senior Tutor, Vice-President and Dean of Degrees at Kellogg. With her colleagues she made the Oxford Department of Continuing Education a national centre in the field of English Local History, and helped make English Local History one of the first Oxford Master's degrees open to part-time students.
She especially supported rugby. She was the first woman elected to the OURFC committee in the mid 2000's, where she served in various roles, including Chair of the Player Development & Coaching Committee, co-chaired OURFC and served on the Recruitment Committee for many years. As a result of her rugby interest, it came as no surprise to anyone that Kellogg College’s first sporting blues were in rugby – two formidable front-row forwards, both of them students on Kate’s Local History Master’s degree.
Kate gave much time and support to OURFC attending matches whenever she could. She was an unofficial historian of the club, and her collection of documents and clippings gifted by her family has bolstered our archives and means her work and legacy will live on in OURFC.
Peter Dixon
(1944-2023)
OURFC are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Blue, England and Lions great Peter Dixon.
Peter achieved four consecutive Blues for OURFC in 1967, 1968, 1969 & 1970. Upon graduation he embarked upon a stellar career for club starting at Harlequins, earning a British and Irish Lions call up to their successful tour of New Zealand, playing in three of the four test matches scoring in the final decisive Auckland test match to draw the match and win the series 2-1.
Upon his return from the 1971 series, he went on to achieve international recognition for England amassing 22 caps and representing Gosforth RFC. It was however, perhaps, away from international representation that Peter achieved some of the biggest scalps in his distinguished career. Firstly, for OURFC he was part of the famous Blues squad that beat the Springboks 6-3 in 1969. He then went onto be part of the first regional sides to beat the All Blacks. Once for the Northern Counties side in 1972 at Workington and again for the North team who beat the All Blacks at Otley in 1979.​
In 1977 he returned to OURFC as player/manager for the Blues tour to Japan and Hong Kong, where he continued his pedigree of claiming international victories, defeating Japan.
Excerpt from the 1970 Varsity Match programme
Dennis Jesson
(1937-2023)
OURFC are sad to announce the passing of Dennis Jesson, who died on the 31st May aged 86. Dennis studied Geology at St Edmund Hall and won three Blues in 1957, 58 & 59 at tight-head prop, plus he also won a Half-Blue for Water Polo.
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Left: Dennis representing Durham County vs Yorkshire in 1957
Excerpt from the 1959 Varsity Match programme
Ronnie Lamb
(1943-2023)
We are very sorry to announce that former OURFC Men's Blues Captain Ronnie Lamb unexpectedly passed away on Saturday 10th June aged 80.
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Ronnie had been associated with OURFC for more than 60 years, having spent four years at St Edmund Hall between 1961 and 1965 reading Geography, gaining three Blues in 1962, 63 & 64 and in the 2000's served as Chairman and RFU Representative for a number of years.
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Lamb’s highlight was captaining Oxford to a 19-6 victory against Cambridge in 1964 when his opposite number at stand-off was the Irish and Lions great, Mike Gibson. The result was a surprise, as Cambridge had won the preceding four matches. In his match report, under the headline: 'Lamb hero of Oxford’s emphatic victory', John Downie of the then Glasgow Herald, wrote: “Almost everything that had been predicted about the match proved false. The great shining star of the whole game, for instance, was expected to be Gibson, the Cambridge and Ireland stand-off. Yet the hero, carried off at the end, was his opposite number, Lamb – a trialist rejected by the Scottish selectors – who had been so badly troubled by a left knee injury that it was doubted until recently that he would even by fit to play.”
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Lamb also played club rugby for Edinburgh Wanderers and London Scottish.
Excerpt from the 1964 Varsity Match programme