Nan's picture hangs in Merseyside school for important reason
One of the first things parents and students see when visiting St. Elizabeth's Catholic Primary School is a tribute. The Litherland school on Webster Street has a photo in memory of Faye Healey in the entrance area.
Before she died, Faye worked at the school as a lollipop lady. She made sure children crossed the road safely for two decades and handed out lollipops on birthdays. Faye watched as two generations of children grew up before her eyes and was adored by the adults and children who saw her every day.
Despite so many local people coming to know and love Faye over the 20 years, there was one thing the majority of people never knew - she had fled her home country of Poland when she was just 11. As a child, Faye had been put on a train headed for England when World War II began, with her Jewish family thinking it was best she was nowhere to be seen when the Nazis invaded the neighbouring country.
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Faye died in April 2020 at the age of 90, but her legacy lives on at St Elizabeth’s, not just this upcoming National Holocaust Memorial Day but all year round. Headteacher Liam Daniels told the ECHO: “The portrait of Faye stands proudly in the entrance area of our school and is one of the first things visitors see.
"When people ask us about the picture, we tell them the story of a remarkable lady who, despite the terrible upheaval and adversity she faced, lived a life full of happiness and brought joy to many people in our community.
“We often relay her story to the children, and it reminds us of how we can all work together to make the world a better place. Her memory lives on, and we are so grateful for what she did for the many families she worked with. Her message of peace is a reminder to all of us about how we should live our lives.”
Faye previously told the ECHO about how vividly she could remember the day her beloved parents waved her a fond farewell as she boarded the train, little knowing it would be the last time she would ever see them.
She was one of 10,000 Jewish children who travelled to England on the Kindertransport, a rescue mission which began after the country agreed to drop their immigration laws and take in children during the nine months leading up to the outbreak of WW2.
Faye was one of the lucky few whose life was saved by the rescue in May 1938. She was taken in by a Liverpool family and made the city her home.
She previously said: “I left Gdansk, a city in Poland, because the Nazis were getting very difficult and it was dangerous to live there. There were 70 of us from my school who boarded the train and at that age, you think of it more like an outing. It felt like an adventure.
“I certainly didn’t realise I would never see my parents again. My sister followed later as she had to get a sponsor from England because she was over 17. When she was on the train, she could hear gunfire. She only just made it in time.”
How Faye grew to love Liverpool
Born Faye Amschanowski, she lived in the Free City of Danzig, now known as Gdansk. Her parents, Sally and Herman, owned a master tailor shop near the apartment where they lived with Faye and her older brother and sister.
Despite the brutal Nazi invasion, Faye still had fond memories of her early childhood. The journey from Poland to England took almost two days. A shortage of families in London to take her in meant Faye was sent to Liverpool, the place she would call home for the rest of her life.
She went to stay with the Fox family, who welcomed her with open arms - but not everyone had the same warmth. She added: “Life just went on as normal. You just had to get on with things. The Foxes always treated me like one of the family. They even had a nine-year-old son, and he introduced me to everyone as his sister.
“With Liverpool being a port, the government toyed with the idea of moving me in case I was a spy. I was classed as an enemy alien. They soon came to their senses and realised I was just an 11-year-old girl.”
Faye received a couple of letters from her parents but quickly stopped whilst living in England. She enrolled at Northway Primary School, where she learnt to speak English in just three months.
She said: “I never heard from my parents once the war broke out. I have chosen not to think about what happened to them as you would be upset all the time. It’s there in the background, but you don’t dwell on it, as it would only send you mad.
"My sister made enquiries once the war ended, but all they found was a list of people who died, and my parents were on that list. No date or location. Nothing about my parents’ final months.
“In England, we were constantly being evacuated. Everyone was just trying to survive. We didn’t know about the concentration camps as they were only discovered after the war. I can’t even bear to think about them.
Faye spent five years at High Field Senior School in Halewood before attending Skerry’s College, where she studied shorthand, typing, bookkeeping, and English. She left the Fox household when she married Frank Healey on October 20, 1962, in Liverpool after becoming a lollipop lady.
Along with the beautifully painted portrait, St. Elizabeth's also has a dedicated bench in its yard to honour Faye. The ‘friendship bench’ is used by children to sit quietly and talk to others.
The tribute was first unveiled in 2023 with Faye’s daughter, Yvonne Callaghan, who had previously told the ECHO of its significance. She said: “It's nice, and there's the importance of educating children about what happened, but to have the personal involvement of it all is amazing.
"It's a shame my mum's not here today to see it all. She used to love going to schools and speaking to children about the history of it all."