KAY BONHAM CARTERwas one of four relatives of Oscar-winning actress Helena Bonham Carter who died in a minibus crash in South Africa on 20 August, 2008.
She was the wife of Helena Bonham Carter’s cousin, Graham Bonham Carter, who survived. The couple met in 2001 while they were both working for King Abdullah of Jordan.
They lived in London, but often visited her mother, Avril Newsum, who used to run fancy dress shop Billy Bonkers in Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent and Mrs B’s Victorian Supper Rooms in Butt Lane.
Mrs Newsum, who moved to North Staffordshire in 1978 when she married her daughter’s stepfather David, said: “She was a daughter in a million. She was such a lovely person with a fantastic sense of humour.
“Kay was very close to the Bonham Carter family. They adored her.”
Helena Bonham Carter is well known for her role as Lucy Honeychurch in the film A Room With A View and starred with Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd.
Her relations were on the third day of a two-week safari when they were thrown out of the minibus travelling from Botswana to the Madikwe Game Reserve.
Among the dead was Graham Bonham Carter’s nephew, 14-year-old http://www.lastingtr ibute.co. uk/tribute/egerton-w arburton/ 2889590 [Marcus Egerton-Warburton]. Mr Bonham Carter’s mother, http://www.lastingtr ibute.co. uk/tribute/bonham_ca rter/ 2889655 [Brenda Bonham Carter], and stepfather Francis Kirkwood, both aged 74, also died.
Mr Bonham Carter, aged 48, and sister-in-law Fiona, aged 51, both survived while Marcus’s older brother Piers, aged 16, escaped but with whiplash.
His wife, whose maiden name was Faulkner, would have celebrated her 55th birthday on 1 September. 2008. She studied interior design at Bristol University and started her international career working for the chairman of Gulf Air.
She was personal assistant for King Hussein of Jordan and worked for TransWorld Oil in Bermuda before meeting Graham when he was banqueting manager for King Abdullah.
The couple moved to Wandsworth, London, where Kay worked for the Barclay Brothers. She had one daughter, Phillippa, from a previous marriage.
Mrs Newsum said: “The last seven years with Graham have been the happiest of Kay’s life. The whole thing is such a terrible tragedy. Graham had just been driving, but his stepfather had taken over because he was tired.
“They were staying in lodges along the way. I’d spoken to Kay just hours before they accident and she said they were having a wonderful time.
“They had been on safari many times before but this trip was special as it was the first time they had taken the nephews.”
Family friend Betty Young met Kay on many occasions when she visited North Staffordshire.
She said: “She was beautiful in so many ways. She and Graham were lovely and so happy together. It was such a terrible shock that this should happen on what should have been a special holiday. Life can be very cruel sometimes.”
Myra Miller said: “I knew Kay through her mother. She was absolutely lovely – so elegant and intelligent. She was a wonderful, clean person.”
http://www. thisisstaffordshire. co.uk/ news/Mother-s-pain-l oss- daughter/article-352 324- detail/article.html [thisisthesentinel.c o.uk]
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